James McNeill Whistler (Lowell, Massachusetts, 1834 - 1903, London, England)
The Sisters, 1894
Lithograph on laid paper, 22.5 x 28.3 cm (8 7/8 x 11 1/8 in.)
This print shows two young women, sisters, sitting in a paneled room to the right of a small, round table. They are dressed in late nineteenth-century fashion. Both wear dark, ankle length dresses with long puffy sleeves. The woman on the right is lounging, almost prone, in an upholstered arm chair. Her head is resting languidly on the top of the back of the chair. The other woman is behind her, sitting upright, looking directly at her sister’s face. Their expressions are unsmiling, perhaps bored or just inscrutable. The shading in the womens’ garments appears as short back and forth marks at different angles. Their absence in small areas suggests light playing on the resting woman’s skirt. The mark making in general appears hurried and unconcerned with providing detail. The artist’s characteristic butterfly signature appears in the lower left.
Short Gallery
Commentary
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