The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Modèle drapé, debout devant une balustrade was originally intended as a lithograph, and may have been drawn as such in Paris in late October or early November 1891. It is dated from the technique and comparison with two successful lithographs, Nude Model, Back View c045 and Draped Figure, Standing c046. ¹ However, after being rejected as a lithograph, the composition could well have been redrawn in pen and ink in the following year.

Modèle drapé, debout devant une balustrade. The Hunterian

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1307) as '1890/1894'.

Images

Subject

Sitter

Modèle drapé, debout devant une balustrade. The Hunterian

Unidentified. It has been suggested that this was a model nicknamed 'Tootsie' (name unknown) (fl. 1900) and that she may have been Carmen Rossi (b. ca 1878. ² 'Tootsie' was so named by Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) on a watercolour, The Pink Cap m1308, and on an impression of the lithograph Draped Figure, Standing c046. However, this is not certain, as the model (as seen in the lithograph) appears to have a rounder face, different from a technically similar drawing, Modèle nu, debout, passant une robe m1306.

Technique

Technique

Modèle drapé, debout devant une balustrade. The Hunterian

It was drawn on thin transparent transfer paper prepared by Henri Belfond (fl. 1891-1894) of the Imprimerie Belfond & Cie, with gum coating on the side intended for a drawing in lithographic crayon. By mistake, Whistler drew on the un-gummed side, and as a result the crayon drawing could not be transferred to stone and printed. Instead, as Spink et al point out, he carefully drew over the composition in pen and ink, probably on the gummed side, although 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 The butterfly signature being the correct way round suggests that in this case both the crayon and the pen are on the same side; this is, to say the least, confusing.

The odd, jerky pen lines, and the blobs of ink at the end of each line, are probably due to the difficulty of drawing on this paper. Not absolutely all of the crayon lines were drawn over in pen. At her neck and to right of her ankle there is shading in crayon that has not been redrawn in pen.

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. 1307) as 'Modèle drapé, debout devant une balustrade'.
• 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. III) as 'Draped Model Leaning on a Rail'.

Websites

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