HARRIS SCHRANK FINE PRINTS » James Whistler

The Bead-Stringers

Harris Schrank — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:06:01 +0000

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), The Bead-Stringers, etching, 1879-80, signed on the tab with the butterfly and inscribed “imp”. Reference: Kennedy 198, eighth state (of 8). In excellent condition, trimmed on the platemark by the artist all around except for the tab, printed on laid paper. From the “Set of Twenty-Six Etchings”, the Second Venice Set. From the edition of 30 (an additional 12 were planned for certain titles including The Bead-Stringers. 9 x 6 inches.

A very fine impression, with a subtle plate tone overall, selectively wiped so that the bottom of the plate is slightly darker.

The Bead-Stringers is one of only two subjects from Whistler’s Venice stay for which a drawing exists; the view is that of the Calle de le Mende, Dorsoduro, which opens through the sottoportico, onto the Fondamenta Ospedaleto.

The Velvet Dress

Harris Schrank — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:37:26 +0000

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), The Velvet Dress, drypoint, 1873, printed in black ink on japan paper, signed with the butterfly on the tab [also signed with the butterfly in the plate]. Kennedy 105, fourth state (of 5). Trimmed on the plate mark by the artist, 9 1/8 x 6 1/8 inches.

A fine delicately printed impression of this rare print, known in only about two dozen impressions, only two of which are signed in pencil.This is one of the first prints in which Whistler used the butterfly monogram.

Whistler made three drypoints of Mrs. Francis Leyland; The Velvet Dress is the most successful of these. Susan Grace Galassi devotes a chapter to Francis Leyland in the catalogue of the exhibit Whistler, Women and Fashion, shown at the Frick Collection in 2003. Apparently after Mrs. Leyland saw a model in a velvet dress she told Whistler she wanted to be painted in a similar dress, and perhaps to appease her Whistler made this beautiful spare drypoint of Mrs. Leyland standing in profile, in a full gown.

In this fourth state impression Whistler has straightened Mrs. Leyland’s hair a bit, added some background lines; in a fifth state (we know of only one example, in the Smithsonian Freer collection) he strenghthened the drypoint substantially.

The Lime-Burner, state 2

Harris Schrank — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:33:12 +0000

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), The Lime-Burner, 1859, etching and drypoint, printed in black ink on very thin Japan paper with margins
Kennedy 46, second (final) state; Lochnan 49.
A very fine, cleanly wiped but rich impression.

The print was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1860 under the title W. Jones, lime-burner, Thames Street. Forming the visual center of an early example of Whistler’s frame-within-a-frame compositions, the figure of Mr. Jones, although small, is nevertheless treated very much like a portrait and the name explicitly given by Whistler in the title for the Royal Academy would confirm this. The lime-burner looks straight out at the viewer while the artist’s complex perspectival devices draw us back into the depth of the image; here a passage opens a small view onto the river and even beyond to the other bank of the Thames.

Published as part of the Thames Set in 1871.

The Lime-Burner, state 1

Harris Schrank — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:29:32 +0000

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), The Lime-Burner, 1859, etching and dryoint, printed in brown on laid paper, with wide margins

Kennedy 46, first state (of two); Lochnan 49. Watermark: Hudelist

provenance

Edgar Degas, Paris (Lugt 657)

P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London (their stock no. in pencil in lower margin C.13502)

A fine impression of the rare first state. This impresssion was exhibited widely in the traveling exhibit of etchings and other works from the Degas collection.

The Degas provenance of this print is highly intriguing. Katharine Lochnan (Etchings of James Whistler) quotes a letter from Mary Cassatt to Joseph Pennell in which she writes that “long ago M. Degas told me he had once written a very urgent letter to Whistler asking him to join a group of painters who were intending to exhibit together, the same group afterwards nicknamed impressionists, but Whistler never replied to the letter” (Lochnan, p. 223). (For an interesting discussion of the relationship of Whistler and Degas see: Betsy G. Fryberger, Whistler: Themes & Variations, 1978.)

Becquet

Harris Schrank — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:54:03 +0000

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Becquet, 1859, etching, printed in black on very thin Japan paper (the sheet has various condition problems and is laid down on wove paper). References: Kennedy 52, second state (of four); Lochnan 55

Provenance

Knoedler & Co., New York (their stock no. in pencil on the verso MK31679)

An impression of the very rare second state.

Whistler titled the plate The Fiddler when he published it as part of the Thames Set in 1871. It is one of the two non-Thames

subjects included in the set (the other is The Forge, Kennedy 68). The print shows the French sculptor and musician Just Becquet

(1829–1907), a friend of the artist who, according to Joseph Pennell’s Whistler Journal, lived in his studio among “disorder and his

cello” (quoted after Lochnan, p. 104).

“The plate on which the portrait was drawn had previously been used for an oblong view of West Point which a friend of Whistler

brought to him for his opinion; stacked muskets can still be seen at the lower right corner of this print”.

Seymour Standing Under a Tree

Harris Schrank — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:46:55 +0000

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Seymour Standing Under a Tree, 1859, etching and drypoint on fine laid paper; inscribed in pencil by Seymour Haden in lower margin “1st pr from plate”. References: Kennedy 31, second state (of three); Lochnan 35. On laid paper, watermark:
Hunting Horn in Shield

Provenance:
Kennedy Galleries, New York (their stock number in pencil on verso a37155)
Ethel Gardner; a gift in memory of her husband George Peabody Gardner (nephew and heir of Isabella Stewart Gardner)
to Bishop Laurence of the Archdiocese of Boston
George S. van Houten, Waalre, Netherlands

The young boy leaning against a tree, possibly in Greenwich Park near London, with his partial reflection visible on the surface of
the water in the foreground, is Francis Seymour Jr. (born 1850), the older son of Whistler’s half-sister Deborah Delano, known
as Dasha (1825–1908), and her husband Francis Seymour Haden (1818–1910). The couple had another son, Arthur Charles
(born 1852) and a daughter, Anne Harriet, known as Annie (born 1848), both of whom were portrayed by their uncle in some
of his earliest etchings (Kennedy 9 and 10).

Gants de Suede

Harris Schrank — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:32:28 +0000

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Gants de Suede, lithograph, 1890, from the published edition, published by The Studio and with their blindstamp lower left [with the artist's butterfly signature in the plate] Reference: Spink, Stratis and Tedeschi 35. From the edition of about 3000, printed by way and issued by The Studio, London, April 16, 1894. In very good condition with a trace of light staining; with margins, 10 x 6 1/2, the sheet 11 1/4 x 8 1/4 inches, archival window matting.

A very good clean impression of this lithograph.

Provenance: Kennedy Galleries, with their stock number recto.

Gants de Suede is a portrait of Whistler’s sister-in-law, Ethel Birnie Philip. Whistler was apparently pleased with this lithograph, for after a small number of impressions were printed he agreed that it could be published by The Studio, an art magazine that had recently been launched; it appeared as part of a special issue.

Gabled Roofs

Harris Schrank — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:14:51 +0000

James Abbot McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Gabled Roofs, lithograph, 1893. Reference: Chicago (Spink et al) 64, only state. From the lifetime edition of 12 (there was also a posthumous edition of 53 printed by Goulding in 1904). In very good condition, with margins, 7 3/4 x 6 1/4, the sheet 12 1/4 x 7 3/4 inches.

Provenance: Childs Gallery, Boston, with their stamp verso, and on their mat (with their catalogue notations).

A fine impression of this rare lithograph, printed on a cream laid paper with the watermark ProPatriaB (this is Spink watermark 251, one of the watermarks specified in Spink as characteristic of the lifetime impressions of this lithograph.

Gabled Roofs is one of the five lithographs Whistler made during the tour through Brittany he made in 1893 with his wife.

Gabled Roofs - Detail

La Marchande de Moutarde – First, Second and Fifth States

Harris Schrank — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:55:06 +0000

The second state (of 5)

James Whistler (1834-1903), La Marchande de moutarde – The Mustard Merchant 1858, etching and drypoint on very thin Japan paper; with small margins; signed in pencil with the butterfly in the lower margin. Reference: Kennedy 22, second state (of five); Lochnan 24
Provenance
Kennedy Galleries, New York (twice; their stock nos. in pencil on verso a37139 and a61426)

A very fine impression of the extremely rare second state of five, printing with rich tone; before the intricate lines above the pots
on the shelf and the vertical lines on the beam just below the arch.

The composition is based on a pencil drawing Whistler made in Cologne during a walking tour through France and the Rhineland
with Ernest Delannoy in 1858. The print was shown together with a portrait etching at the Paris Salon of 1859 and can be considered
the artist’s first introduction to the public. For this historic reason, but also because of the charming quality of the image
itself, La Marchande is rightly considered one of Whistler’s most important early prints.

The edition of two hundred impressions made by the printer Frederick Goulding in 1886 also makes it one of Whistler’s least
rare works. However, as Ruth Fine has pointed out, the last two states “are marked […] by defacing” (p. 33). An early impression
such as this one—particularly one that is signed—is extremely rare – only about 10 impressions of the second state are known.

This is being sold with an exceedingly fine impression of the even rarer first state, pictured just below. We believe this impression is one of only two, the other residing at the National Gallery, Washington D.C. Lastly, an exceptionally fine impression of the fifth and final state (shown at bottom), from the famed Harrington collection (Lugt 1347), printed before the larger edition, accompanies these two rare early impressions.

The rare first state

Fifth State

The Bridge, Amsterdam

Harris Schrank — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:34:58 +0000

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), The Bridge, Amsterdam, etching, 1889. Signed on the tab with the butterfly and inscribed “imp”, also inscribed on the verso in the artist’s hand “first proof pulled” together with the butterfly monogram. In good condition, printer’s crease bottom center. Reference: Kennedy 409, first state of three.

Trimmed on or outside of the plate mark by the artist, with the tab remaining, h: 6.5 x w: 9.5 in / h: 16.5 x w: 24.1 cm

Provenance: P. and D. Colnaghi, Kennedy Galleries (with their stock number a33940 verso)

A fine atmospheric impression of this exceedingly rare work, printed in brown ink on laid paper, with a light veil of plate tone, slightly stronger in the watery foreground and lighter beyond the bridge and in the sky.

This impression has very little etched work in the water in the central part of the print, consistent with Whistler’s note on the verso that this is the first impression pulled, and with Kennedy’s description of the first state of this print. Instead of the line work, Whistler has left waves of carefully wiped plate tone to represent the movement and shading of the water.

In this early state the bridge railing in the center and shadow work in the buildings at the left are yet to be completed. In the later states Whistler also added heavy lines in the water and sky suggesting a storm; in this state the lines are drawn with an exquisite light touch suggesting a calm before the storm.