id:			113948
accession number:	1933.222.a
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1933.222.a
updated:		2022-04-07 20:10:05.678000

Japanese Woman Painting a Fan (recto), c. 1872. James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834-1903). Black chalk and pastel; sheet: 27.9 x 17.6 cm (11 x 6 15/16 in.); secondary support: 38.5 x 28.9 cm (15 3/16 x 11 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Henry A. Everett for the Dorothy Burnham Everett Memorial Collection 1933.222.a

title:				Japanese Woman Painting a Fan (recto)
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			c. 1872
creation date earliest:		1867
creation date latest:		1877
current location:		
creditline:			Gift of Mrs. Henry A. Everett for the Dorothy Burnham Everett Memorial Collection
copyright:			

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culture:	America, 19th century
technique:	black chalk and pastel
department:	Drawings
collection:	DR - American 19th Century
type:		Drawing
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834-1903)  - artist

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measurements: Sheet: 27.9 x 17.6 cm (11 x 6 15/16 in.); Secondary Support: 38.5 x 28.9 cm (15 3/16 x 11 3/8 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:

	description:	brown paper
	watermarks:	

inscriptions:

	inscription:	signed, center, in black chalk and pastel: [artist's monogram]
	translation:	
	remark:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		American Drawings from the Permanent Collection
	opening date:   1998-04-19T00:00:00
	<i>American Drawings from the Permanent Collection</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 19-July 12, 1998).

	title:		Pure Color: Pastels from the Cleveland Museum of Art
	opening date:   2016-11-19T05:00:00
	<i>Pure Color: Pastels from the Cleveland Museum of Art</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 19, 2016-March 19, 2017).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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PROVENANCE

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fun fact: 


digital description: 
In 1872 Whistler was commissioned to contribute two designs to complete the decorative scheme of 35 monumental portrait mosaics installed in the south court of the South Kensington Museum in London (now the Victoria and Albert Museum). A celebration of the arts, the mosaics represented male artists throughout history; Whistler’s two designs attempted to correct the gender imbalance. His subjects were a woman at a spindle and a Japanese woman painting a fan. Here, a brush is poised in the figure’s right hand—notice the sharp diagonal line above the orange butterfly—as she pauses to contemplate the fan she is painting. The commission went unfulfilled, and all that survives is this pastel study.

wall description: 
After being expelled from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Whistler made his way to Europe, where he pursued the life of the artist-bohemian, first in Paris, and then in London. Whistler was a pioneer in appreciating the effects of Japanese prints, and his art is characterized by an Asian subtlety and delicacy. Whistler signed his work with a monogram representing a butterfly, which appears just below the hand of the model in this drawing.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1933.222.a/1933.222.a_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1933.222.a/1933.222.a_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1933.222.a/1933.222.a_full.tif