Woman Holding a Fan

Drawn on the reverse side of The Blue Girl (TF 1999.146a), Woman Holding a Fan is a similar study, without color, of a standing nude woman draped in a thin, diaphanous gown. Her gesture of proffering a fan seems accidental, secondary to James McNeill Whistler’s exploration of the contours of her form, which is sketchily outlined in black and subtly highlighted in pale, thinly applied pastel, a drawing medium. Both Woman Holding a Fan and The Blue Girl may be studies for a series Whistler was planning in the 1890s of large oil paintings of women intended to represent legendary personifications of female beauty. In the last three decades of his career, Whistler focused on the nude or thinly draped female figure in small works, of which the Terra Foundation collection includes several examples.

[recto probably exhibited] Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters, and Gravers, New Gallery, London, England, February 22–April 15, 1905, no. 79 (as The Blue Girl).

[recto probably exhibited] Whistler Pastels and Water Colours, Carroll Carstairs, New York, New York, January 12–February 5, 1938. [exh. cat.]

[recto probably exhibited] James McNeill Whistler, M. Knoedler & Company, New York, New York, November 2–30, 1960. [exh. cat.]

[recto probably exhibited] James McNeill Whistler, The Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, January 13–February 25, 1968; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, New York, March 17–April 28, 1968. [exh. cat.]

[recto probably exhibited] Notes, Harmonies, Nocturnes, M. Knoedler & Company, New York, New York, November 30–December 27, 1984. [exh. cat.]

[recto exhibited] American Treasures: Chase, Whistler, and the Prendergasts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 26, 1996–January 5, 1997.

[recto exhibited] Figures and Forms: Selections from the Terra Foundation for the Arts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 9–July 9, 2000.

MacDonald, Margaret F. Notes, Harmonies & Nocturnes: Small Works by James McNeill Whistler. (exh. cat., M. Knoedler & Company, Inc.). New York: M. Knoedler & Company, Inc., 1984. Text nos. 42, 42A, p. 43; ill. no. 42A, p. 43. (black & white).

MacDonald, Margaret F. James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels, and Watercolours; A Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven, Connecticut and London, England: Yale University Press, 1995. Text no. 1223, p. 442; ill. no. 1223v, p. 442 (black & white).