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Watercolor of woman in long black coat on red background

A light-skinned, short-haired woman stands looking toward the viewer. Her cheeks are bright pink, and she wears a long, voluminous black robe with a fur collar. Spots of red near her sleeves suggest jewelry or embellishments on her clothing. Her hips and knees are pointed slightly to the right. Behind her is a background of broad, sweeping strokes of red fading into brown at the bottom of the image. Whistler’s “butterfly” signature is painted in brown near the bottom right.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.331
People
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American (Lowell, MA 1834 - 1903 London, England)
Frame by M. Grieve Co.
Title
Red and Black
Other Titles
Former Title: Portrait of Kate Munro-- A Note in Red
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1883-1884
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/307876

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watercolor on brown wove paper
Dimensions
24.4 x 13.8 cm (9 5/8 x 5 7/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: Black watercolor, c.r.: butterfly monogram

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
R. Dunthorne, his sale to Hunt Henderson, New Orleans, 1922; his bequest to Tulane University, 1939; its sale to Grenville L. Winthrop, April 1941; his bequest to the Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.331
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • Philistine (pseud.), "Mr. Whistler and His Artifices", Artist and Journal of Home Culture (London, July 1, 1884)
  • Dorothy W. Gillerman, ed., Grenville L. Winthrop: Retrospective for a Collector, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1969), p. 243
  • Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1995), pp. 355 - 357, no. 934, reproduced
  • Kenneth John Myers, Mr. Whistler's Gallery: Pictures at an 1884 Exhibition, exh. cat., Freer Gallery of Art / Smithsonian Institution and Scala (Washington, DC, 2003), repro 76, pg. 94
  • Margaret F. MacDonald, Susan Grace Galassi, and Aileen Ribeiro, Whistler, Women and Fashion, exh. cat., The Frick Collection (New Haven, CT, 2003), pp. 146-47
  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., American Watercolors and Pastels 1875-1950 at the Fogg Art Museum, brochure, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2006), checklist
  • Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., Virginia Anderson, and Kimberly Orcutt, ed., American Paintings at Harvard, Volume Two, Paintings, Drawings, Pastels and Stained Glass by Artists Born 1826-1856, Harvard Art Museums and Yale University Press (U.S.) (Cambridge, MA and New Haven, CT, 2008), p. 421-423, cat. no. 448, reproduced in color, p. 421

Exhibition History

  • "Notes" - "Harmonies" - "Nocturnes", Dowdeswell Gallery, London
  • "Notes"--"Harmonies"--"Nocturnes", Dowdeswell Gallery, London, 01/01/1884 - 12/31/1884
  • Whistler Pastels and Watercolors, Carroll Carstairs Gallery, New York, 01/12/1938 - 02/05/1938
  • American Watercolors and Pastels, 1875-1950, at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/08/2006 - 06/25/2006

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu