Clothes-Exchange, Houndsditch, No.2

Object Details

• Artist

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

• Label

  Whistler’s interior view of an iron and glass building located in Houndsditch, part of London’s East End, pictures the lively trade in secondhand, cast-off, and pawned clothing. Wholesale and retail purchasers included not only shopkeepers but also artisans, clerks, and even gentlemen. In August 1877, a reporter spotted Whistler “sketching the picturesque corners of ‘Cloth Fair,’” adding, “the artist has an eye for business . . . and ‘slumming’ is a pursuit much indulged in by the élite of society.”

  Whistler etchings are identified by "G" numbers as assigned in "James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonn&‌eacute;," by Margaret F. McDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock (University of Glasgow, 2012), http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk. This print is G359 state 1 of 3.

• Provenance

  To 1889

  Frederick Keppel and Co., London, England, and New York to 1889 [1]

  From 1889 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Frederick Keppel and Co. in 1889 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Whistler List, Etchings, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change (November 18, 2023 to May 4, 2024)

  Special Exhibition, Whistler Etchings and Lithographs (January 14, 1924 to February 18, 1924)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Frederick Keppel and Co. (1868-1940) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  United States

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1880s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Frederick Keppel and Co.

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, American Art, Store front, Cities and towns, Etching (printing process)

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Prints