Collection Online as of September 22, 2023
Standing Woman Holding Up Her Dress (verso)
Part of a set. See all set records
James McNeill Whistler
(American, 1834–1903)
Black chalk or crayon
Support: Brown wove paper
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.)
Gift of Mrs. Henry A. Everett for the Dorothy Burnham Everett Memorial Collection 1933.222.b
Location
not on view
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.