Deux Artistes Célèbres de Paris

Maker(s)
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
Historical period(s)
1858
Medium
Pencil on beige paper
Dimensions
H x W: 20 x 24.5 cm (7 7/8 x 9 5/8 in)
Geography
United States
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1898.161
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Drawing
Type

Drawing

Keywords
man, United States
Provenance

Seymour Haden (1818-1910), London [1]

To 1898
H. Wunderlich & Co., New York to 1898 [2]

From 1898 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from H. Wunderlich & Co., through Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938), in November 1898 [3]

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Whistler List, Haden Collection Drawings, pg. 1, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[2] See Voucher No. 20, November 1898, 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.

Previous Owner(s)

Francis Seymour Haden 1818-1910
Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
H. Wunderlich & Co. (C.L. Freer source) 1874-1912

Label

Whistler and Delannoy paid for some of their travel expenses by making portraits along the road. Lack of funds was a difficulty, but Whistler later told his sister Deborah Haden that they had encountered some "sunnier moments." He described how they "came upon a fair--how I there made a portrait of 'butchers, bakers, candlestickmakers!' for five groschen apiece--that is a little more than four-pence!!!" In this drawing, Whistler depicts the amusing side of his predicament. A huckster rings a bell while bawling out the bargain rate at which the two young artists were willing to make their sketches.

Published References
  • Margaret F. MacDonald. James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels, and Watercolours : A Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven, 1995. .
  • David Park Curry. James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1984. pp. 27, 228, pl. 184.
  • Katharine Lochnan. The Etchings of James McNeill Whistler. Exh. cat. New Haven and London, 1984. p. 48.
Collection Area(s)
American Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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