The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Modèle nu, debout, passant une robe was originally intended as a lithograph, and was probably drawn in Paris in late October or early November 1891. It is dated from the technique and comparison with a similar but successful lithograph, Draped Figure, Standing c046. ¹

Modèle nu, debout, passant une robe, The Hunterian

However, it is possible that the pen drawing was added some time after the crayon drawing was rejected for lithographic transfer.

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1306) dated '1890/1894'.

Images

Subject

Sitter

It has been suggested that this was a model nicknamed 'Tootsie' (name unknown) (fl. 1900) and that she may have been, in fact, the young Carmen Rossi (b. ca 1878. ² 'Tootsie' was so named by Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), writing on a watercolour, The Pink Cap m1308, and on an impression of the lithograph Draped Figure, Standing c046.

Technique

Technique

Modèle nu, debout, passant une robe, The Hunterian

The image is 236 x 135 mm, or 291 x 204 mm including registration marks and trials of the crayon. It was drawn on papier végétal prepared by the lithographic printer Henri Belfond (fl. 1891-1894) with gum coating on the side intended for a drawing in lithographic crayon. Whistler may have planned for it to be printed as a colour lithograph (hence the registration marks). By mistake, he drew on the un-gummed side, so the crayon drawing could not be transferred to stone and printed. Instead, he carefully drew over the composition in pen and ink. However, it is not absolutely certain (because of the extreme thinness of the paper) that the crayon drawing was on one side and the pen on the other. ³

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his sister-in-law, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1958: bequeathed by Miss Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.

Exhibitions

It was not, as far as is known, exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1306) as 'Modèle nu, debout, passant une robe'.
• Spink, Nesta R., Harriet K. Stratis, and Martha Tedeschi, The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, (gen. eds, Harriet K. Stratis and Martha Tedeschi), 2 vols., Chicago, 1998, vol. 1, 'Untransferred Lithographic Drawings', pp. 501-02 (cat. no. II) as 'Nude Model Pulling Drapery over Her Head'.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk.