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Graphite drawing of figures with brown wash

A woman stands in the foreground facing the viewer and smiling. Her hair is either short or pulled up off her head, and she wears a long, long-sleeved dress that appears to have lapels at the chest. In the background to the right, the face and torso of a woman can be seen just in frame. She appears to be looking toward the foreground woman. The background woman holds a small child who faces the viewer. The background is shaded with graphite, and there is a wash of brown watercolor around the outline of the figures.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1993.68
People
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American (Lowell, MA 1834 - 1903 London, England)
Title
Two Women and a Child
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1901
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/310074

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2100, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, Centuries of Tradition, Changing Times: Art for an Uncertain Age
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Graphite and brown wash on cream wove paper
Dimensions
actual: 12 x 7.9 cm (4 3/4 x 3 1/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: old mount, now in curatorial file, graphite: J. M. Whistler (1834 - 1903) / Collection: Miss R. Birnie Philip, sister-in-law of the artist / [in different hand:] Bot of Colnaghi, London, July 1957.
  • label: mat, paper, printed: The Philip Hofer Collection

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, London, bequest; to Miss Birnie Philip, his sister-in-law, 1903 (as a sketchbook). [P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, 1956], [1] sold; to [Philip Hofer, Cambridge, 1957]. Aimee and Rosamond Lamb, bequest; to Harvard University, Art Museums, 1993

Notes
[1] Before being sold by Colnaghi the page was removed from a sketchbook

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Aimée and Rosamond Lamb
Accession Year
1993
Object Number
1993.68
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1995), p. 601, no. 1672, reproduced

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2100 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/24/2023 - 11/04/2024

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