Mother and Child, No. 2

Maker(s)
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
Historical period(s)
1891 and 1895
Medium
Lithograph on paper
Dimensions
H x W: 17.2 x 19.6 cm (6 3/4 x 7 11/16 in)
Geography
United States
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1896.72
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Print
Type

Lithograph

Keywords
child, United States
Provenance

From 1896 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from the artist in 1896 [1]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Whistler List, Lithographs, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Purchase Voucher is dated November 28, 1896.

[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.

Previous Owner(s)

James McNeill Whistler (C.L. Freer source) 1834-1903
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919

Label

The model Rose Pettigrew liked Whistler--she loved his wife, Beatrix--;but had no illusions about the artist's character. Years later she recalled that "Whistler was very clever and cynical, loving to say smart things, even if they hurt. He was an exceedingly mean man, paying his accounts as rarely as he dared, and cutting down as much as he could."

Quotation from Rose Pettigrew, Autobiographical Typescript, in Bruce Laughton, 'Philip Wilson Steer: 1860-1942' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971).

Whistler lithographs are identifid by "C." numbers as described in The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998). This is print C53.

Published References
  • Ruth Fine, (Annotated bibliography) Eric Denker. Drawing Near: Whistler Etchings from the Zelman Collection. Los Angeles, 1984. p. 160.
  • The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler. 2 vol., Chicago and New York, 1998. pp. 438-443.
Collection Area(s)
American Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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