James McNeill Whistler

Venus

© Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Date 1869
Materials Chalk on paper, pounced, laid on japan paper
Dimensions 119.2 cm x 61.4 cm
Marks Inscribed: “Thursday morning” and “W…s…”; dated “69” in a cartouche; signed with a butterfly at the lower right
Further information Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. www.asia.si.edu/
Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1995 (357).

Note Notice that the female figure in this drawing is outlined with a particularly dark line. This is because this drawing is a cartoon, and the dark outline shows where holes would have been made for the design’s transfer to canvas. The holes are also clearly visible in the outlines of the fans decorating the wall. However, no finished painting exists and maybe none was completed. The design shows Whistler’s dual attraction to Japanese art (in the fans, vase and signature) and to classical art (in the pose and hair style of the woman, taken from antique sculpture). This drawing is an extremely important record of Whistler’s working practice. With the exception of his Cartoon of Rich and Poor Peacocks, it is the only existing cartoon by Whistler. It is also the first dated work with a butterfly signature.

Related works MacDonald 584 (GLAHA 46071).