Rag Shop, Milman's Row, Chelsea

Object Details

• Artist

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

• Edition/State

  2

• Label

  Rag shops are among Whistler’s most frequent shop-front motifs. Originally a row of Georgian cottages, the buildings on Milman Street in London had seen better days when Whistler encountered this rag-and-bone operation. Squared off and pulled close to the picture plane, it was a favorite subject, but Whistler also visited others in the city. His first shop-front oil was a Nocturne focused on a rag shop. Later, he etched two views of the Clothes Exchange, London’s bustling East End venue for the sale of old clothing. An elegant pen-and-ink drawing, Chelsea Rags, revisited Milman’s Row in 1899, showing little had changed.

  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 G329 state 4 of 4.

• Provenance

  Cox Collection [1]

  To 1903

  Obach & Co., London, to 1903 [2]

  From 1903 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Obach & Co. in 1903 [3]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] See Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

  [2] See Original Whistler List, Etchings, Voucher No. 1, July 11- November 1903, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [3] See note 2.

  [4] 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)

  Whistler's Neighborhood: Impressions of a Changing London (September 8, 2012 to September 8, 2013)

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Cox Collection

  Obach & Co. (1884-1911) (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

  1890s, 1870s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Obach & Co., Cox Collection

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Architecture, American Art, Store front, Etching (printing process), Business

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Prints