The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Two butterflies dates from 1890.

Two Butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

They are catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1253).

Images

Subject

Description

Two Butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

Two butterflies based on Whistler's monogram 'JW', with the addition of a long barbed tail. They were designed for Whistler 1890 [more].

Technique

Composition

Two Butterflies, Freer Gallery of Art

Designed for Whistler 1890 [more]. The butterfly at the top is for p. 183, 'The Opportunity Neglected', a letter to the Gazette de Beaux-Arts, June 1878, regretting he could afford the luxury of having an etching published by them. The lower one was for p. 172, 'Nous avons changé tout cela!', a letter to Henry Du Pré Labouchere (1831-1912), Truth, published 2 September 1885, concerning the mediocre standards of Academy art.

History

Provenance

• 1890: probably sent by Whistler to William Heinemann (1863-1920), London publisher.
• 1904: bought from Obach, London art dealers, by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Exhibitions

By the terms of Freer's will, this work cannot be lent to another venue.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1253) as 'Two butterflies'.

Authored by Whistler

• Whistler, James McNeill, The Gentle Art of Making Enemies, London, 1890, repr. pp. 172, 183.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Curry, David Park, James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, New York and London, 1984, p. 280, pl. 283.

Websites

• Freer Gallery of Art website at https://asia.si.edu/object/F1904.448, as 'Two Butterflies'.