Drawing of a nude woman holding fabric above her shoulders
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

The image for this drawing is black-and-white. A nude woman stands facing the viewer with her head tilted down and to the left. She has a decorative headpiece on the back of her head. Her right arm is stretched up and out with her left arm bent upward. She holds the edges of a piece of fabric that drapes over her arms, across her back, and down to the backs of her knees. Long dark lines on the fabric’s surface suggest folds and draping. The woman’s shadow appears to the right in light shading. Whistler’s “butterfly” signature appears to her right.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.620
People
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American (Lowell, MA 1834 - 1903 London, England)
Title
Nude Raising Robes over her Head
Other Titles
Former Title: Standing Female Nude Holding Drapery
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1893
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/308073

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black lithographic crayon on off-white wove paper prepared w/ lead white ground
Dimensions
24.5 x 16 cm (9 5/8 x 6 5/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: Graphite, l.r.: butterfly monogram

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Grenville L. Winthrop, New York, NY; 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
1943.620
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Thomas R. Way, Mr. Whistler's Lithographs: The Catalogue, George Bell and Sons, Ltd. (London, England, 1896), no. 31
  • Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1995), pp. 496 - 497, no. 1478, reproduced
  • Harriet K. Stratis and Martha Tedeschi, The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, IL, 1998), reproduced in b/w p. 507, no. viii; cf. cat. no. 31

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