Les Côtes à Dieppe

Object Details

• Artist

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

• Description

  Drawing of a street scene in the French coastal town of Dieppe, with a drawing of a cliff and building on the reverse.

• Signatures

  Unsigned.

• Inscriptions

  "les Cotes a Dieppe. 1857." and ""Le Mer a Dieppe 1857"

• Label

  Once a significant port on the west coast of France, Dieppe had become a resort town popular with English tourists by the mid-19th century. It offered visitors a lengthy promenade, warm baths, sea bathing, golf links and a casino. Whistler depicted the promenade with its large clock that proclaimed the value of middle-class leisure time. He also included the lofty chalk cliffs and the sea beyond. The tightly drawn figures with highly contrasted pencil strokes are similarly distributed in this and A group of figures on an esplanade (F1898.186), suggesting the studio nature of the compositions. Whistler visited Dieppe many times as he traveled back and forth between Paris and London.

• 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. 2, 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.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and Modern Life (May 11, 1984 to December 16, 1984)

  Drawings by James McNeill Whistler (August 1, 1974 to April 14, 1975)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910)

  H. Wunderlich & Co. (1874-1912) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  United States

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Drawing

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1850s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Haden, Seymour, H. Wunderlich & Co.

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, American Art

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Drawings