Group of four men

Maker(s)
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
Historical period(s)
1858
Medium
Pencil on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
H x W: 9 x 11.2 cm (3 9/16 x 4 7/16 in)
Geography
United States
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1898.196
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. 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.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

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

Label

The younger man in the center of this composition seems to be holding forth while an older companion, in the cap and neckerchief of a laborer, gives him undivided attention. The figure with a cap is similar to men that appear in Whistler's Rhine river-boat drawings.  Braggadocio and beer were significant components of student life. The Pennells reported that once Whistler returned to Paris with tales of his adventures, his artist friends saluted him at the Cafe Moliere with loud songs:

Car il n'est pas mort, larifla! fla! fla!
Non, c'est qu'il dort.
Pour le reveiler, trinquons nos verres!
Pour le reveiler, trinquons encore!

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. p. 232, pl. 193.
Collection Area(s)
American Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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