Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00011479Japanese Woman Painting a Fan (recto)
Also known as: Japanese lady decorating a fan; Woman in Japanese Dress
About the Artwork
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.
Inscriptions
signed, center, in black chalk and pastel: [artist's monogram]
Exhibition history
American Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 19-July 12, 1998). Pure Color: Pastels from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 19, 2016-March 19, 2017).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903)
- Date
- c. 1872
- Medium
- black chalk and pastel
- Dimensions
- 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.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Gift of Mrs. Henry A. Everett for the Dorothy Burnham Everett Memorial Collection
- Accession no.
- 1933.222.a
More by James McNeill Whistler in museum collections
Study for "Arrangement in Grey and Black, No. 2: Portrait of Thomas Carlyle"
James McNeill Whistler1872–73 · Painting
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00000171
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00000181
Arrangement in Flesh Color and Brown: Portrait of Arthur Jerome Eddy
James McNeill Whistler1894 · Painting
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00000601
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00000649
Open-access museum record · AT-00011479
Powered by Art Trackers