Rag Pickers, Quartier Mouffetard, Paris

Detail of a pattern
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At A Glance

  • Period

    1858
  • Geography

    United States
  • Material

    Etching; ink on paper
  • Dimension

    H x W: 15.3 x 8.9 cm (6 x 3 1/2 in)
  • Accession Number

    F1901.167
  • EDAN ID

    edanmdm:fsg_F1901.167

Object Details

  • Artist

    James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
  • Edition/State

    5, 4
  • Label

    Whistler arrived in Paris in 1855 during the first phase of a radical reconfiguration of the French capital that took place over the course of the next half century. Swept up in fresh currents of naturalism and realism, he joined Gustave Courbet, Henri Fantin-Latour, Edouard Manet, and other artists seeking motifs drawn from everyday life in the oldest, poorest parts of the city. Visiting a squalid neighborhood that had yet to be revitalized, Whistler began his fifty-year commitment to depicting rag shops and junk stores. He later added figures to this empty space in 1861 before exhibiting the print in London.
    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 G29 state 4 of 5.
  • Provenance

    To 1901
    Frederick Keppel and Co., London, England, and New York to 1901 [1]
    From 1901 to 1919
    Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Frederick Keppel and Co. in 1901 [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)
  • 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

    CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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