Bravura in Brown

Object Details

• Artist

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

• Description

  An interior with a woman seated at a piano at a slight distance; signed with the butterfly to the right of the figure.

• Signatures

  Brown butterfly to the right of the figure.

• Paper/Support

  On hot-pressed, wove paper. Graphite crop line along bottom edge.

• Provenance

  To 1902

  Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934), London, to 1902 [1]

  From 1902 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Henry Studdy Theobald in 1902 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Whistler List, Purchases from Thoebald, pg. 7, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. See also, Voucher No. 1, August 1902,

  Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] 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

  Whistler in Watercolor (May 18 to November 3, 2019)

  Sweet Silent Thought: Whistler's Interiors (August 20, 2011 to August 26, 2012)

  Mr. Whistler's Galleries: Avant-garde in Victorian London, 1883 (November 20, 2003 to April 4, 2004)

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

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

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Paintings and Drawings (December 14, 1955 to February 25, 1956)

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

  Exposition des Oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler (May 1905)

  Exposition Internationale de Peinture et de Sculpture (1887)

  "Notes"—"Harmonies"—"Nocturnes" (May 1884)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  United States

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1880s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Theobald, Henry Studdy

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Organic yellow pigment, Yellow ocher, Crop marks, Charles Lang Freer collection, Mars pigment, Art, American Art, Raw sienna, Bone black, Zinc white, Woman, Burnt umber

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Paintings