James McNeill Whistler - Note in Red, The Siesta 1884

Nocturne in Black and Gold, the Falling Rocket 1875 Nocturne. Black and Gold. The Fire Wheel 1875 Nocturne. Blue and Gold. Old Battersea Bridge 1875 Note in Red, The Siesta 1884 St. John the Apostle Evangelist 1875 The Seamstress 1875 Arrangement in Black, No.3 Sir Henry Irving as Philip II of Spain 1876
Note in Red, The Siesta 1884

Note in Red, The Siesta 1884
21x30cm oil/canvas
Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago

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From Terra Foundation for American Art:
Throughout his career, the female figure served as a medium for the development of Whistler’s art. In images ranging from formal, full-length society portraits to such seemingly private, sketch-like works as Note in Red: The Siesta, Whistler pioneered the theme of woman as decorative object. He was deeply influenced by the stylized, languorously elegant women pictured in the Japanese woodcut prints he admired, and his treatments, in turn, set a precedent for two generations of American artists. Nude or clothed, the recumbent woman, caught in an idle moment of private rest or reverie in the private setting of the bedroom or boudoir, was a particular theme to which he repeatedly returned.