Winter Evening
date: label: Date
content: 1879-1880
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Label
content: Many contemporary art critics were perplexed by Whistler's innovative use of pastels. For example, the reviewer for the London Times thought that Whistler's drawings were "far more artistic and interesting" than most pastels, but pedantically insisted that they should not be described as pastels, since "in a true pastel the ground of the picture is entirely covered with the coloured chalk employed, this being generally obtained by making it rough like the surface of fine sand, the use of this being to enable the artist to blend the crude, powdery colour of his crayons, and thus give the soft gradations in light and shade and colour without any distinct outline."
label: Label
content: Quotations from "Mr. Whistler's Venice Pastels," Times (London),
label: Label
content: February 9, 1881.
label: Provenance
content: To 1917
label: Provenance
content: Mrs. Louisine Havemeyer (1855-1929), New York to 1917 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1917 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), given by Mrs. Louisine Havemeyer in 1917 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Accession List, Collections Management office, as well as Original Whistler List, pg. 16, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] 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.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler in Venice: The Pastels (January 19 to June 15, 2003)
label: Exhibition History
content: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and the Landscape (May 11, 1984 to February 5, 1985)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Pastels and Drawings, Re-arranged and some additions (January 7, 1924 to January 20, 1944)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Mrs. Louisine Havemeyer (1855-1929) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: United States
topic: label: Topic
content: winter
label: Topic
content: night
label: Topic
content: United States
label: Topic
content: American Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1917.5a-b
objectType: label: Type
content: Drawing
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Crayon and pastel on brown paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 30 x 20.2 cm (11 13/16 x 7 15/16 in)