Butterfly "Encountered" (recto); Sketch for Tailpiece (verso)

James McNeill Whistler's double-sided drawing Butterfly Encountered (recto) and Sketch for Tailpiece (verso) (1898/99) is a pen and black ink over graphite drawing on cream wove card. The recto, Butterfly Encountered, features Whistler's famous butterfly signature, which he used as a personal emblem throughout his career. The butterfly was a symbol of Whistler's artistic identity, appearing on his paintings, prints, and correspondence. The verso shows a sketch for a tailpiece, perhaps for a publication or a print. The double-sided nature of this sheet is particularly valuable, showing Whistler working on two different aspects of his artistic practice on the same support. The pen and ink technique is rapid and expressive, the lines capturing the essence of the butterfly emblem with a few strokes. This drawing dates from the final years of Whistler's career, when his reputation was established and his emblematic butterfly was widely recognized as the signature of one of the most original artists of the age.

Whistler's butterfly signature became one of the most famous artist emblems in the history of art, a symbol of his aesthetic principles and his distinctive artistic identity.

This drawing of Whistler's iconic butterfly emblem reveals the artist's playful side, the economical line capturing the essence of the symbol that came to represent his artistic identity.