The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

r.: Designs for a flower stand dates from 1893/1895. On the verso is an unrelated scribble.

r. : Designs for a flower stand, The Hunterian

The drawing is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1399).

Images

Subject

Site

r. : Designs for a flower stand, The Hunterian

There were plant stands in the garden of 110 rue du Bac, Paris. They appear in the lithographs Confidences in the Garden c100, La Belle Jardinière c101, The Garden Porch c088, and The Man with a Sickle c089. In the latter, and in the pastel, Spring m1397, the plant pot itself was signed with a butterfly.

Technique

Technique

r. : Designs for a flower stand, The Hunterian

Neat shading and wash were used to shade the butterflies and the legs of the stands. There is also a pencil scribble on the verso which is unrelated to the designs.

Conservation History

The paper has a fairly smooth surface, and has browned.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to his sister-in-law and executrix, 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. 1399) as 'r.: Designs for a flower stand, v.: Scribble'.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Andreeva, Galina, and Margaret F. MacDonald, Whistler and Russia, State Tretyakow Gallery, Moscow, 2006 (cat. no. 114).

Websites

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