Butterfly "Encountered" (recto); Sketch for Tailpiece (verso)
James McNeill Whistler
1898/99
Medium
Pen and black ink over graphite (recto), and graphite (verso), on cream wove card
Dimensions
15.7 × 12.2 cm (6 3/16 × 4 13/16 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
113076
About the Artist
James McNeill Whistler · 1834–1903
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was an American-born painter and printmaker who became a leading figure in the Aesthetic Movement and pioneer of Tonalism and Japonisme. He revolutionized art by championing "art for art's sake" and treating paintings as visual equivalents of musical compositions, titling works as "arrangements," "harmonies," and "nocturnes" to emphasize formal qualities o...