Cleveland Museum of Art

Japanese Woman Painting a Fan (recto); Standing Woman Holding Up Her Dress (verso)

James McNeill Whistler

Date

c. 1872

Medium

black chalk and pastel

Culture

America

Department

Drawings

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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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