The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

A crouching nude tending a flowering plant dates from about 1893.

A crouching nude tending a flowering plant, The Hunterian

The drawing is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1389).

Images

Subject

Sitter

A crouching nude tending a flowering plant, The Hunterian

Unidentified.

Technique

Composition

A crouching nude tending a flowering plant, The Hunterian

The White Symphony: Three Girls, Freer Gallery of Art

This was originally thought to be a study for The White Symphony: Three Girls y087 or The Three Girls y088, but the technique suggests a much later date. The technique is a little unusual: one hand and leg were drawn in white, not in black at all.

A large butterfly is visible under the final one, suggesting a date of the late 1880s. It is possible that in this drawing, Whistler returned to an earlier study.

Technique

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1389).

Conservation History

The rough paper has small fibres, flecks of wood-stalk and a broad horizontal grain. It is a light brown with an orangey tone, a little darkened within the mount. There are both oil and paint stains, including a big spot of pink paint on her thigh. At left and bottom are roughly torn edges. There is a pinhole at top, so the paper must have been laid down at a later date.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his sister-in-law and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1935: given by Miss Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow.

Exhibitions

By the terms of Miss Birnie Philip's gift, the painting 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. 1389) as 'A crouching nude tending a flowering plant'.

Websites

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