Sleeping Woman

c. 1863

James McNeill Whistler

Associated Names
James McNeill Whistler

Artist, American, 1834 - 1903

The image shows the upper body of a seated person in a relaxed pose. Their facial features are softly sketched, with eyes closed or looking downward. The person's hair is medium-length and their hands are possibly resting in their lap. They are wearing dark outerwear over a lighter inner garment, with no visible jewelry. The background consists of dense, dark, crosshatched lines.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    chalk and charcoal on cream wove paper mounted on paperboard

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    sheet (irregular bottom edge): 25 × 17.6 cm (9 13/16 × 6 15/16 in.)
    mount: 35.9 × 27.8 cm (14 1/8 × 10 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1948.11.306

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    MacDonald 1995, no. 310

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

James Anderson Rose [1819-1890], London; (sale, London, Christie's, 5 May 1891, lot 112); (purchased by Dowdeswell Gallery, London); Bernard Buchanan MacGeorge [c.1845-1924], Glasgow; Harris Whittemore [1864-1927], Naugatuck, CT; (his sale, New York, Parke-Bernet, 19-20 May 1948, lot 153); (Rosenbach Company, Philadelphia); purchased by Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], 1948; gift to NGA, 1948.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1905

  • Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late James McNeill Whistler, New Gallery, London, 1905, no. 183.

1950

  • Masterpieces of Drawing: Diamond Jubilee Exhibition, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1950-1951, no. 100, repro.

1953

  • Whistler's Prints after Fifty Years, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1953.

1954

  • American Drawings, organized by The United States Information Agency, The Cooper Union Museum, New York; with a tour to Amerika Haus, Munich, Germany; Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, France; and London Tea Center, London, England, 1954, no. 127.

1959

  • Courbet's Contemporaries in Prints and Drawings, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1959-1960.

1961

  • Nineteenth Century Master Drawings, The Newark Museum, NJ, 1961, no. 31, repro.

1962

  • Drawings from the National Gallery of Art Collections, NGA, 1962-1963.

1966

  • Drawings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, NGA, 1966.

1969

  • The Prints of James McNeill Whistler, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Artmobile, 1969-1970.

1986

  • Graphics Survey Exhibition, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., October 1986.

1994

  • James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London; Musée d'Orsay, Paris; NGA, 1994-1995, no. 18.

1998

  • Songs on Stone: James McNeill Whistler and the Art of Lithography, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998, no. 10, repro.

2022

  • The Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler, Royal Academy of Arts, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2022, no. 20.

  • The Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler, Royal Academy of Arts, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2022, no. 20.

Bibliography

1982

  • Fine, Ruth E. Lessing J. Rosenwald: Tribute to a Collector. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1982, p. 98, fig. 27-28b.

1991

  • Wadley, Nicholas. Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Drawing. London, 1991: no. 83a.

1994

  • James McNeill Whistler. Exh. cat. Tate Gallery, London; Musée d'Orsay, Paris; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994-1995: no. 18.

1995

  • MacDonald, Margaret F. James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1995, no. 310.

Inscriptions

lower right in black chalk: Whistler

Wikidata ID

Q64580665

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