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James McNeill Whistler

Finette

1859
Etching and drypoint in black on ivory Japanese paper
29 × 20.1 cm (11.4 × 7.9 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Actors, singers, chorus girls, and dancers were popular subjects for artists of the period. Josephine Durwend, a cancan dancer who performed in London and Paris from the 1850s to the 1870s, was known as Finette. Despite her immodest costumes in contemporary photographs and her reputation for vulgar language and drunkenness, Whistler chose to depict her tastefully dressed and standing in a dignified pose.

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