Bead Stringers

Object Details

• Artist

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

• Label

  Here, as in most of his Venice pastels, Whistler sketched the outlines of his drawing with dark chalk, then added firm strokes of color to fill in the details of the figures, windows, drying clothes, and sky. Framed by the warm orange-brown of the lightly worked building walls, Whistler used cool whites, grays, and blues to establish the central subject and the regress to the background, before locking the harmonies into place with the dark greens of the shutters, the blacks of the women's shawls, and the deep browns that define the shadowy interior of the distant building.

• Provenance

  To 1905

  Thomas Way Sr. (1827-1915), London, or Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), London, to 1905 [1]

  From 1905 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Thomas Way Sr. or Thomas Robert Way in 1905 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 29, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Thomas Way Sr. and his son, Thomas Robert Way, were lithographers who worked closely with Whistler on several of his projects. They helped with the printing of his etchings, as well as the printing of Whistler’s promotional materials. Both Thomas Way Sr. and Thomas Robert Way owned many Whistler works. Thomas Way Sr. acquired several of these works at the time of Whistler’s bankruptcy, and he passed some of them on to his son (see The Correspondence of James McNeill Whistler, 1855-1903, ed. Margaret F. MacDonald, Patricia de Montfort and Nigel Thorp, On-line Edition, People, biographies of Thomas Way and Thomas Robert Way; http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence).

  Charles Lang Freer acquired many Whistler pieces from the Ways. However, museum records do not always specify whether it was the younger or elder Way who was the source of a particular object. Further, archival sources indicate that the junior Way sometimes acted on behalf of his father: whilst negotiating the sale of his own Whistler works to C.L. Freer, he would concurrently negotiate the sale of some of his father’s Whistler works to Freer. In cases where it is unclear whether it was the junior or senior Way who actually owned a piece acquired by C.L. Freer, the provenance record will simply state that the object was purchased from “Thomas Way Sr. or Thomas Robert Way.”

  [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: Streetscapes, Urban Change (November 18, 2023 to May 4, 2024)

  Mr. Whistler's Galleries: Avant-garde in Victorian London, 1883 (November 20, 2003 to April 4, 2004)

  Whistler in Venice: The Pastels (January 19 to June 15, 2003)

  James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and the Landscape (May 11, 1984 to February 5, 1985)

  Whistler Pastels and Water Colors (July 1 to July 31, 1974)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 10 and 11 (February 25, 1956 to November 3, 1959)

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Paintings and Drawings (December 14, 1955 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, Works of Whistler (September 22, 1947 to April 11, 1955)

  Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Watercolors, Oil Paintings, and Pastels (January 20, 1944 to October 13, 1947)

  Whistler Pastels and Drawings, Re-arranged and some additions (January 7, 1924 to January 20, 1944)

  American Paintings, Pastels, and Water Colors, and Drawings. J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to January 7, 1924)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Thomas Way Sr. (1837-1915)

  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

  Drawing

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1880s

• Name

  Way, Thomas, Freer, Charles Lang, Way, Thomas Robert

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, American Art

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Drawings