The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Sketch of 'The Novel – Study of a girl reading' was drawn in a letter from Whistler in Paris, to Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), lithographer, in London, on 12 December 1893. ¹

Sketch of 'The Novel – Study of a girl reading', Freer Gallery of Art

It was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1402).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Sketch of 'The Novel – Study of a girl reading', Freer Gallery of Art

Unidentified.

Technique

Composition

Sketch of 'The Novel – Study of a girl reading', Freer Gallery of Art

The Novel – Girl Reading', lithograph, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

This is a drawing of the lithograph, The Novel: Girl Reading c032, which was originally drawn in 1890 and reprinted by Way, as requested, in 1893. The relevant section of the letter reads:

'... I had several destroyed - Now among them did I destroy a little draped figure of a girl standing reading a letter? I rather hope not - for I have a proof that I now think well of! -

Do you remember? Something like this - I have not the drawing by me - [sketch] If you have the stone, I wish you would print me a dozen proofs.' ²

Technique

In the letter there is a detailed drawing for identification purposes, drawn with broken, short and flowing lines. There is also a tiny figure on the last side of the letter, to show where Way was to put the straight and where the ragged side of the paper when printing.

History

Provenance

• 1893: sent by Whistler to Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), London;
• 1904/1905: bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), Detroit;
• 1919: bequeathed to the Freer Gallery of Art.

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime, and, by the ter,s of Freer's will, cannot be shown in any other venue.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1402) as "Sketch of 'The Novel – Study of a girl reading' ".
• 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 (lithograoh, cat. no. 32).

Websites

• The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler, 1855-1903, edited by Margaret F. MacDonald, Patricia de Montfort and Nigel Thorp; including The Correspondence of Anna McNeill Whistler, 1855-1880, edited by Georgia Toutziari. Online edition, University of Glasgow, 2003-2004, GUW #03357.