James McNeill Whistler Study of “The Three Girls”

Date c.1869-1872
Materials Black ink on lined wove paper
Dimensions 18.3 cm x 21.7 cm
Marks Signed with a butterfly at the centre left
Further information GLAHA 46029.
Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonne, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1995 (361).

Note This is an early study for The Three Girls (YMSM 88). The design of three young women in an interior surrounded by flowers and exotic accessories is primarily decorative and was inspired by both classical and Japanese sources. There are a number of pieces of oriental porcelain displayed and the woman on the right holds a parasol. Notice the grid-like background, which was derived from Japanese prints. The figures with their long flowing robes and classical hairstyles were possibly inspired by Greek terracotta statuettes. Look how Whistler arranged them along a single plane. This creates a similar effect to classical relief sculpture. Their different poses complement and balance each other, adding to the sense of patterning. Like the majority of Whistler’s works, this drawing is without a story. Its subject is beauty.

Related works YMSM 88.