A group of children looking into a shop window; signed with the butterfly to the right of the shop door.
Signatures:
Brown butterfly in center of right half
Paper/Support:
On hot-pressed, wove paper mounted overall to board.
Provenance:
From 1902 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Company of the Butterfly, London, in 1902 [1]
From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [2]
Notes:
[1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 16, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Society of the Butterfly [Company of the Butterfly] was James McNeill Whistler's London business through which he sold his works. Mr. Freer purchased this work in May 1900, although it was paid for on June 16, 1902 (see Accession List, Collections Management Office, as well as Curatorial Remarks in the object record).
[2] 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: Streetscapes, Urban Change (November 18, 2023 to May 4, 2024)
Whistler in Watercolor (May 18 to November 3, 2019)
Whistler's Neighborhood: Impressions of a Changing London (September 8, 2012 to September 8, 2013)
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 (November 11, 1976 to March 18, 1981)
Whistler Pastels and Water Colors (July 1 to July 31, 1974)
Exposition des Oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler (May 1905)
Previous custodian or owner:
Company of the Butterfly (1897-1903) (C.L. Freer source)