Variations in Flesh Colour and Green - The Balcony

Object Details

• Artist

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

• Description

  Four women on a balcony overlooking the river.

  Signature at lower left.

• Signatures

  Signature - the Butterfly, at lower left.

• Label

  A pivotal work in Whistler's oeuvre, this painting stands between his fanciful costume works such as Caprice in Purple and Gold and the more fully realized synthesis of Japanese art evident in the Nocturnes of the 1870s. English models dressed in kimonos pose on a balcony overlooking the river Thames and the industrial neighbourhood of Battersea on the opposite shore. The factory smokestacks are veiled in atmospheric mist, and the adjacent slag heap (a monument of industrial waste) evokes images of Mount Fuji by Japanese artists Utagawa Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai. Butterflies, a symbol of metamorphosis, link the foreground fantasy to the real world beyond the balcony. Beginning with this painting, Whistler signed his work with a butterfly instead of his name, thereby linking himself and Victorian London to imaginative visions of Japan.

• Provenance

  G.G. Cavafy, purchased from the artist, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) [1]

  To 1892

  H. Wunderlich & Co., New York to 1892 [2]

  From 1892 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from H. Wunderlich & Co. in 1892 [3]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] See Curatorial Remarks 3 and 4, S. Hobbs, 1977, in the object record.

  [2] See Original Whistler List, Etchings, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [3] See note 2.

  [4] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Ruffled Feathers: Creating Whistler's Peacock Room (July 13, 2024 to January 21, 2027)

  Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change (November 18, 2023 to May 4, 2024)

  An American in London: Whistler and the Thames (May 3 to August 17, 2014)

  Freer & Whistler: Points of Contact (February 23, 2008 to January 3, 2016)

  Pretty Women: Freer and the Ideal of Feminine Beauty (August 13, 2005 to September 17, 2006)

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) (April 3, 2001 to January 24, 2008)

  Whistler & Japan (May 14, 1995 to January 1, 1996)

  American Art - James McNeill Whistler (May 9, 1993 to June 30, 1997)

  Arrangement in Yellow and Gold: Paintings by James McNeill Whistler (March 14, 1986 to April 1, 1987)

  American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler (January 17, 1985 to (end date unknown))

  James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and Modern Life (May 11, 1984 to December 16, 1984)

  American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler 1834-1903 (September 16, 1981 to March 26, 1984)

  American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler (November 11, 1976 to March 18, 1981)

  Paintings by James McNeill Whistler (August 1, 1974 to December 5, 1975)

  Portraits and Figure Painting by James McNeill Whistler (October 2, 1972 to May 2, 1973)

  Whistler Paintings (October 15, 1969 to September 25, 1971)

  Whistler Paintings (September 8, 1961 to October 15, 1969)

  American Paintings (September 8, 1961 to May 2, 1973)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 10 and 11 (February 25, 1956 to November 3, 1959)

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Oil Paintings, Gallery 3, 1955 (December 16, 1955 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, American Oil Paintings, Gallery 3, 1947 (September 25, 1947 to April 12, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Works of Whistler (September 22, 1947 to April 11, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Oil Paintings (February 12, 1944 to May 10, 1945)

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Watercolors, Oil Paintings, and Pastels (January 20, 1944 to October 13, 1947)

  American Paintings, J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to February 12, 1944)

  Untitled Exhibition, University of Michigan Club, Detroit, 1914 (1914)

  A Selection of Art Objects from the Freer Collection Exhibited in the New Building of the National Museum (April 15 to June 15, 1912)

  Ausstellung Amerikanischer Kunst (March 17 to April 17, 1910)

  Exposition des Oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler (May 1905)

  Oil Paintings, Water Colors, Pastels and Drawings: Memorial Exhibition of the Works of Mr. J. McNeill Whistler (February 23 to March 22, 1904)

  Untitled Exhibition, Society of American Artists, 1903 (1903)

  Autumn Exhibition (October 28 to November 18, 1902)

  Pan-American Exposition, Exhibition of Fine Arts (May 1 to November 2, 1901)

  Second Annual Exhibition, Carnegie Institute (November 4, 1897 to January 1, 1898)

  Nocturnes, Marines and Chevalet Pieces (March through April, 1892)

  Retrospective Exhibition (December 5 to 25, 1892)

  Exposition Universelle (May 6 to October 31, 1889)

  Grosvenor Gallery Summer Exhibition (Summer 1878)

  The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts: The One Hundred and Second (1870)

• Previous custodian or owner

  G. G. Cavafy

  H. Wunderlich & Co. (1874-1912) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  United States

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• On View

  Freer Gallery 11: Ruffled Feathers: Creating Whistler's Peacock Room

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1860s, 1870s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Cavafy, G. G., H. Wunderlich & Co.

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Shamisen, American Art, Balconies, Models (representations), Kimono, Ukiyo-e

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Paintings

• On View

  Yes