The Thames

Object Details

• Artist

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

• Edition/State

  1, 3

• Label

  Unlike the other Savoy Hotel lithographs, The Thames is a lithotint. As in Limehouse and Nocturne, Whistler used washes to draw his design directly on the stone. Whistler did not reverse the drawing, so the printed image is backwards, with Charing Cross Railway Bridge appearing at the left. As one contemporary reviewer noted, The Thames "is a particularly expressive nocturne. The slow, dull tide of the river, the dark, veiled shapes of factory chimneys and warehouses on the further shore, the sky of drifting clouds, have the poetry inherent in Whistler's view of such a scene fraught to him with beauty that touched his soul and gave it peace."

  Glasgow Herald, June 1, 1915, quoted in Hunterian Art Gallery, James McNeill Whistler at the Hunterian Art Gallery (Glasgow: Hunterian Art Gallery, 1990), 44.

  Whistler lithographs are identified by "C" numbers as described in The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998). This print is C161, third state.

• Provenance

  To 1902

  Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), London, to 1902 [1]

  From 1902 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), given by Thomas Robert Way in 1902 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] According to Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] 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 and the Thames (December 17, 2000 to June 17, 2001)

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Drawings, Etchings, and Lithographs, 1959 (April 15, 1959 to November 2, 1959)

  Centennial Exhibition, East Corridor (February 25, 1956 to July 10, 1958)

  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)

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Prints, East Corridor (January 5, 1944 to January 8, 1947)

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Etchings and Lithographs (April 4, 1930 to January 20, 1944)

  Lithographs and Lithotints by Whistler (March 23, 1925 to March 24, 1930)

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

  American Paintings, Etchings, and Lithographs. J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to January 7, 1924)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913) (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

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1890s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Way, Thomas Robert

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Boats and boating, Art, American Art, Rivers

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Prints