UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

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Fumette, Standing

Impression: New York Public Library
New York Public Library
(MEZAP)
Number: 59
Date: 1859
Medium: drypoint
Size: 350 x 221 mm
Signed: 'Whistler.' at lower right (2)
Inscribed: '1859.' at lower right (2)
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 2
Known impressions: 7
Catalogues: K.56; M.56; T.61; W.50
Impressions taken from this plate  (7)

KEYWORD

cancelled plate, model, portrait, woman standing.

TITLE

There are several minor variations in the title, some giving the model's name or her name and pose, but mostly changes in punctuation, as follows:


'Fumette' (1870s, Whistler). 1
'Fumette' (1874, Pall Mall Gallery).. 2
'Female Figure' (1874, Ralph Thomas, Jr (1840-1876)). 3
'Study of a Female Figure' (1874, James Anderson Rose (1819-1890)). 4
'Fumette' (1881, Union League Club). 5
'Fumette Standing' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 6
'Fumette, Standing' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 7
'Fumette - Standing' (1903/1935, possibly Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958)). 8


Mansfield's title, 'Fumette, Standing', has been chosen, in order to distinguish this portrait from the earlier etching, Fumette [12].

1: Written on Graphic with a link to impression #K0560101.

2: London Pall Mall 1874 (cat. no. 42)

3: Thomas 1874 (cat. no. 61).

4: Liverpool 1874 (cat. no. 523).

5: New York 1881 (cat. no. 71).

6: Wedmore 1886 A (cat. no. 50).

7: Mansfield 1909 (cat. no. 56).

8: Envelope containing copper plate, Hunterian Art Gallery.

DESCRIPTION

A young woman stands turning to the right, looking at the viewer. Her dark hair is pinned back either side of her forehead and falls loosely down her back. She has a short, close fitting bodice with a small collar close round her neck, and a narrow waist. Her long skirt is covered with an apron. Her right arm, in a puffed sleeve, is by her side, with her hand thrust into a pocket on her apron.

SITTER

Impression: K0130404
Eloise ('Fumette') (fl. 1840-1858). She posed for Fumette [12] (reproduced above), Fumette's Bent Head [58] and Venus [60]. The apron she wears in Fumette, Standing suggests she is a worker.

DISCUSSION

The lines have tremendous strength and vigour, and contrast with the fine detail of Whistler's early portrait, Fumette [12], and the rougher, loosely drawn close-up, Fumette's Bent Head [58]. It is one of two striking full-length portraits of Parisian women, with Finette [61]. Lochnan mentions that Whistler gave these figures 'monumentality by selecting a low vantage point and emphasizing the richness of their costume'. 9 The costume worn by Fumette, with its puffed sleeves, close-fitting bodice, narrow waist and full skirt (with no crinoline) is not unusual for the period. A similar costume is seen in a slightly later drawing ('Woman wearing a dress with puffed sleeves') 10 and paintings including A White Note [y044].

9: Lochnan 1984 , p. 104.

10: The Valparaiso Notebook [m0340], p. 27.