The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Designs for a flag for a lithograph exhibition drawn on verso of a letter from Whistler in Lyme Regis to Marcus Bourne Huish (1843-1904) of the Fine Art Society on 27 November 1895. ¹

Designs for a flag for a lithograph exhibition, Glasgow University Library

It was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1447).

Images

Subject

Description

Designs for a flag for a lithograph exhibition, Glasgow University Library

Two designs for a square flag bearing a butterfly.

Technique

Composition

Designs for a flag for a lithograph exhibition, Glasgow University Library

This is Whistler's modified design for a flag to hang in New Bond Street on the occasion of A Collection of Lithographs by James McNeill Whistler, Fine Art Society, London, 1895. He was disappointed, he said, that he could not have the long pennant :

'Flag - well your last proposal will do - but the square with Butterfly smaller - in proportion - & I believe that no matter how you hang it the Butterfly ought to be the other way - & not upright from the ground - then it ceases to be flag & is sign.' ²

This is followed by the sketch specifying which way up the butterfly should be placed.

Technique

The flag was neatly drawn, the ink running together into a grey wash where the pen strokes come close together.

History

Provenance

• 1895: sent to Marcus Bourne Huish (1843-1904), of the Fine Art Society, London.
• 1921: sold by James Tregaskis (1850-1926), London book and art dealer (December 1921, cat. no. 413 iii).
• Date unknown: acquired by Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958), London;
• 1955: given by Miss Philip to the University of Glasgow.

Exhibitions

It was not 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. 1447) as 'Designs for a flag for a lithograph exhibition'.

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 #02976.