The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Design for a fan dates from 1868/1873. It is dated by its relationship to other works of art, particularly Symphony in Blue and Pink y086, as well as the technique.

Design for a fan, Colby College Museum of Art

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 392) dated 'c.1870'. This entry has been updated and extended.

Images

Subject

Description

Design for a fan, Colby College Museum of Art

Four figures, two at left and two at right, walk towards each other on a beach by the sea. Their robes are blowing in the wind and one woman carries a parasol.

Technique

Composition

Design for a fan, Colby College Museum of Art

Symphony in Blue and Pink, Freer Gallery of Art

The figures, particularly on the left, are arranged in similar poses to those in Symphony in Blue and Pink y086.

Technique

Design for a fan, Colby College Museum of Art

The freely drawn pencil lines have a wriggly, sinuous quality, backed up by expressive brushwork, and elaborate, delicate cross-hatching, using small pointed sable brushes only 3mm wide. The figures are not completely finished, but the effect of movement is striking. The paper is glossy and the colours glow 'like illuminations on vellum.' ¹

Conservation History

It is in good condition, although the white paint has started to oxidise, and there is minor water staining at the left and right edges.

History

Provenance

• 1889: possibly owned by Alphonse Wyatt Thibaudeau (1840-1892), and sold at his sale, Sotheby's, London, 9 December 1889 (lot 1139) as 'Sketch for a Fan, in Japanese style, in colours', bought by Lauser, £3.10.0.
• By 1904: acquired by Charles Hazlewood Shannon (1863-1937), London, who owned it until at least 1912.
• 1928: sold by the Executors of the H. L. Sternberg estate, Christie's, London, 24 February 1928 (lot 51), and bought by David Croal Thomson (1855-1930), London art dealer, 220 gns.
• 1950: acquired by Sir James L. Dodds (1891-1972), then British Minister in Lima, Peru;
• 1966: sold by his wife, Lady Dodds, at auction, Sotheby's, London, 20 April 1966 (lot 11), and bought by Anthony D'Offay Fine Art, London;
• 1966: bought from d'Offay by David Owsley, who owned it until at least 1984.
• 1987: sold by the R. H. Love Galleries, Chicago, to the Pfeil Collection, Chicago, IL.
• 1995: art market, London/New York;
• By 1996: with The Jordan-Volpe Gallery, Inc., New York;
• 1996: bought by a collector;
• 2018: sold at auction, Christie's, New York, 22 May 2018 (lot 71), and bought on behalf of Paula Crane Lunder (b. 1935) and Peter H. Lunder (b. 1933);
• 2018: given to the Lunder Collection, Colby College Museum of Art.

Exhibitions

• 1904: Fourth Exhibition, International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers, New Gallery, Knightsbridge, London, 1904 (2nd edition, cat. no. 154a) as 'Study for a Fan'.
• 1905: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 116).

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 392) as 'Design for a fan'.
• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980, p. 49 (cat. no. 86, ref.).

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

EXHIBITION:

• Fourth Exhibition, International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers, New Gallery, Knightsbridge, London, 1904 (2nd edition, cat. no. 154a) as 'Study for a Fan'.
• Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 116).

SALE:

• Sotheby's, London, 9 December 1889 (lot 1139) as 'Sketch for a Fan, in Japanese style, in colours'.

Journals 1855-1905

• Anon., 'London Exhibitions', The Art Journal, 1904, pp. 96-98, repr. p. 98.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, p. 149, repr. f.p. 144.

Catalogues 1906-Present

EXHIBITIONS:

• Thomson, David Croal, Barbizon House: An Illustrated Record, London, 1928, repr. p. 10 as 'Ladies on the Seashore. design for a Fan.'
• Important and Interesting Paintings and Drawings of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Anthony D'Offay Fine Art, London, 1966 (cat. no. 11), repr.
• MacDonald, Margaret F., Notes, Harmonies, and Nocturnes: Small Works by James McNeill Whistler, M. Knoedler and Co., Inc., New York, 1984 (cat. no. 55), repr.
• ホイスラー展. Whistler Exhibition in Japan, Isetan Museum of Art, Tokyo; Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo; Shizuoka Prefectural Museum, Shizuoka, 1986 (cat. no. no. 55), repr., as in 'File collection' [sic].
• Masterworks of American Impressionism from the Pfeil Collection, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, GA; The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, MD; National Academy of Design, NY; The Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK; Phoenix Art Museum, AZ; Center for the Fine Arts, Miami, Florida; The Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee; Honolulu Academy of the Arts, Hawaii; Birmingham Museum of Art, AL; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1992-1994, pp. 272-73 (cat. no. 86), repr..

SALE:

• Christie's, London, 24 February 1928 (lot 51).
• Sotheby's, London, 20 April 1966 (lot 11).
• Christie's, New York, 22 May 2018 (lot 71).

Websites

• Colby Museum of Art website at http://www.colby.edu.