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Lot Essay
“Draped Figure, Reclining is one of six color lithographs…that resulted from Whistler's collaboration with the French printer Belfond. It is one of the images the artist intended to include in "Songs on Stone," the never-realized set of color lithographs he planned to issue with the publisher William Heinemann. The keystone drawing for this image was made in London in the early spring of 1892, when Whistler was dividing his time between Paris and London. The model is almost certainly one of the Pettigrew sisters…, who posed for a number of lithographic drawings made in London in this period on the same thin, transparent transfer paper provided by Belfond…This image…(was) probably transferred to stone in Belfond's studio by July of 1892.
Although there is no surviving documentation about the printing that Whistler and Belfond carried out together, the Pennells maintained that the artist worked in Belfond's shop on the rue Gaillon mixing and adjusting the ink colors himself. Color notations in Whistler's hand on two first-state trial proofs testify to his close involvement in the process, as does a comparison of the different impressions of Draped Figure, Reclining. There are many variations in the subtle hues used from impression to impression of this lithograph. Tonalities within the same hue may range from warm to cool. For example, the cap and butterfly are found in rose, rose-tan, rose-lavender, purple, and pink; and the several transparent greens in the model's drapery can be warm or cool in tone and vary considerably in intensity from one impression to another.
The experimental nature of Whistler's work in color lithography is nowhere better demonstrated than in the nuanced range of impressions... Some impressions are subdued throughout and these invariably have the keystone printed in pale gray ink, while proofs inked with stronger, brighter colors usually have the keystone printed in black or brown. In addition, Whistler seems often to have adjusted his hues according to the color of the paper on which the image was to be printed, employing warmer hues on cream sheets and purple or lavender inks on cooler off-white or ivory papers. Although five color stones were probably used, a number of impressions show evidence that certain stones were selectively inked with more than one color…Although the "Songs on Stone" project was eventually abandoned in 1894, Whistler was clearly pleased with Draped Figure, Reclining and was anxious to make it known. He signed several impressions in 1893 and sent them off to his dealers…”
Nesta R. Spink, Harriet K Stratis and Martha Tedeschi, The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago (September 28, 1998), No 56.
Although there is no surviving documentation about the printing that Whistler and Belfond carried out together, the Pennells maintained that the artist worked in Belfond's shop on the rue Gaillon mixing and adjusting the ink colors himself. Color notations in Whistler's hand on two first-state trial proofs testify to his close involvement in the process, as does a comparison of the different impressions of Draped Figure, Reclining. There are many variations in the subtle hues used from impression to impression of this lithograph. Tonalities within the same hue may range from warm to cool. For example, the cap and butterfly are found in rose, rose-tan, rose-lavender, purple, and pink; and the several transparent greens in the model's drapery can be warm or cool in tone and vary considerably in intensity from one impression to another.
The experimental nature of Whistler's work in color lithography is nowhere better demonstrated than in the nuanced range of impressions... Some impressions are subdued throughout and these invariably have the keystone printed in pale gray ink, while proofs inked with stronger, brighter colors usually have the keystone printed in black or brown. In addition, Whistler seems often to have adjusted his hues according to the color of the paper on which the image was to be printed, employing warmer hues on cream sheets and purple or lavender inks on cooler off-white or ivory papers. Although five color stones were probably used, a number of impressions show evidence that certain stones were selectively inked with more than one color…Although the "Songs on Stone" project was eventually abandoned in 1894, Whistler was clearly pleased with Draped Figure, Reclining and was anxious to make it known. He signed several impressions in 1893 and sent them off to his dealers…”
Nesta R. Spink, Harriet K Stratis and Martha Tedeschi, The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago (September 28, 1998), No 56.