Green and Blue: The Dancer - James McNeill Whistler

Purchased with funds provided by Dr. William D. Shorey; through prior acquisitions of the Charles Deering Collection and through prior bequest of Mrs. Gordon Palmer

American Art Modern Art Paintings Prints

"Green and Blue: The Dancer" by James McNeill Whistler (c. 1893) Watercolor and opaque watercolor over traces of black chalk on brown wove paper laid down on card.

Commentary

"Green and Blue: The Dancer" by James McNeill Whistler (c. 1893) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. Its painted surface guides your eye through color, brushwork, and contrast rather than through narrat ive alone. Themes to notice include watercolor. This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings collection. James McNeill Whistler is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: James McNeill Whistler American, 1834-1903. The work is cataloged within a United States cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as watercolor, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Watercolor and opaque watercolor over traces of black chalk on brown wove paper laid down on card) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (27.5 × 18.3 cm (10 7/8 × 7 1/4 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include watercolor. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/111164

Sources: Art Institute of Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago / Public Records; Art Institute of Chicago Collection Data