The Embroidered Curtain

Object Details

• Artist

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

• Edition/State

  4th

• Label

  Whistler’s two-month stay in Amsterdam yielded some of his finest etchings that unite carefully observed detail with geometric abstraction. Visible through open doors and windows, figures crowd this stage-like scene on a canal near Whistler’s hotel. An elaborately patterned curtain behind a tall window gives the work its title, while a tiny Dutch sign over a basement door reads “Water te Vuur” (“Water for Sale”), signaling a small business common in Amsterdam in which people paid a penny for a bucket of water or a few glowing coals. The city filled in the canal and demolished these buildings a few years after Whistler’s visit, but a surviving photograph confirms the accuracy of the composition.

  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 G451 state 5 of 10.

• Provenance

  From 1890 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from the artist in 1890 [1]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Whistler List, Etchings, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Also, according to Kenneth Myers, label text for "Whistler's Greatest Etchings: The 1889 Amsterdam Set," Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, June 28, 2003 - February 1, 2004, this object was "purchased from Whistler, Detroit, May 1890."

  [2] 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 Greatest Etchings: 1889 Amsterdam Set (June 28, 2003 to February 1, 2004)

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Prints (December 12, 1955 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Etchings, Lithographs, and Drypoint (September 24, 1947 to April 11, 1955)

  Etchings and Dry Points by Whistler (March 23, 1925 to March 24, 1930)

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) (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

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1880s

• Name

  Whistler, James McNeill, Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  United States

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Prints