James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Penny Passengers, Limehouse

1860

Seymour Haden (1818-1910), Shere Mill Pond II (Large Plate), etching and drypoint, 1860, signed in pencil lower right [also signed in the plate lower right]. Schneiderman 37, sixth state (of 9). In generally good condition (see note below) with margins, on a cream/ivory laid paper, 7 x 13 1/2, the sheet 8 1/8 x 13 3/4 inches. A very good impression, with rich burr especially in the reeds toward the right. Provenance: Frederick Keppel and Co., New York, NY. Illustrated: Guichard, British...

James Whistler, The Little Putney, 1879, etching and drypoint, signed with the large butterfly lower right (also with the butterfly in the plate). Glasgow 187, third state (of 3). 12...

Camille Pissarro (1830-1903), Grand-mere (effet de lumiere), etching and drypoint, 1889, signed in pencil lower right, titled lower left, inscribed “No 3 – ...

Arthur B. Davies (1862-1928), Resurrection (aka Flying Figures; Border of the Lake), drypoint and aquatint on zinc, 1916, signed with the estate stamp lower right. Reference: Price 2...

Theodore Roussel (1847-1926), A Street in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, etching, soft ground etching, drypoint, 1912, signed in pencil on the tab and inscribed...

James Whistler (1834-1903), The Bridge, Santa Marta, 1879-80, etching with drypoint, printed in sepia on fine laid paper. Signed with the butterfly and inscribed imp on the tab (also with an exceedingly light butterfly lower right in the plate). Kennedy 204, probably eighth (final) state; Glasgow 201, probably state 9 (of 9) (cf. Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock, James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow, 2011), Lochnan 199. Trimmed to the platemark by the artist, h: 11.8 x w: 7.9 in / h: 30 x w: 20.1 cm. A fine impression, printed with subtle tone. The bridge theme occurs repeatedly in Whistler’s vistas. It is also the main focus of more than one of the Venetian prints. While some bridges are seen from below, from where one would see it if approaching in a gondola (for example Ponte del Piovan, Kennedy 209), The Bridge depicts the scene from a high perspective, opening up the view into the far distance. The small boat approaching the arch in the foreground is again, as in the earlier Thames prints, a stock motif that is probably ultimately derived from the Japanese woodcuts of Hokusai and Hiroshige. The bridge here is the Ponte de le Terese over the Rio de l’Arzere in the Santa Marta quarter. The early biography of Whistler by Elizabeth and Joseph Pennell is essential for its “immense quantity of information” but also notorious for “the inherent hyperbole and misinformation” (Eric Denker, Annotated Bibliography, in Fine, p. 184). Still, it is worth quoting from the Pennels’ appraisal of The Bridge: “Simplicity of expression has never been carried further. Probably the finest plate, in its simplicity and directness, is The Bridge. Whistler now obtained the quality of richness by suggesting detail, and also by printing. In The Traghetto...

Artist: Sidney Tushingham (English, 1884-1968) Title: "Peggy" *Signed by Tushingham in pencil lower right. It is also monogram signed in the plate (printed signature) lower right Cir...

Artist: Sidney Tushingham (English, 1884-1968) Title: "Molly" *Signed by Tushingham in pencil lower right. It is also monogram signed in the plate (printed signature) upper right Cir...

Artist: Emil Fuchs (Austrian, 1866-1929) Title: "Confidences" *Signed by Fuchs in pencil lower right. It is also signed in the plate (printed signature) lower left Circa: 1920 Medium: Original Drypoint Etching on unbranded white wove paper Limited edition: Unknown Printer: the artist Fuchs himself, New York?, NY Publisher: likely the artist Fuchs himself, New York?, NY Sheet size: 7" x 8.5" Image size: 5" x 7" Condition: Never framed, has been professionally stored away for decades. Presently tipped into an archival storage mat. In mint condition Extremely rare. Lovely work Notes: Various pencil inscriptions at bottom in margins including the title. "Imp" pencil inscribed by Fuchs after his signature denoting he was the printer of this work. There is an example of this very same work within the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. The MET specifies their example was acquired as a gift directly from the artist Emil Fuchs himself in 1931. Biography: Emil Fuchs, MVO, (9 August 1866 – 13 January 1929) was an Austrian and American sculptor, medallist, painter, and author who worked in Vienna, London and New York. He painted portraits of Queen Victoria and Edward VII and was fashionable among London high society in the early 20th century. He was born in Vienna on 9 August 1866. During his years in Austria, Germany and Rome he was a sculptor and medallist who eventually began to study painting as well. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna under Edmund von Hellmer and Viktor Oskar Tilgner. He then attended the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin where he studied under Fritz Schaper and Anton von Werner...

Artist: Félix Bracquemond (French, 1833-1914) Title: "Canards Surpris (Surprised Ducks)" *Signed by Bracquemond in pencil lower right. It is also initial signed in ink lower left Year: 1882 Medium: Original Drypoint Etching on cream Japanese paper Limited edition: 100 Printer: Imprimerie Lemercier, Paris, France Publisher: likely the artist Bracquemond himself, Paris, France Reference: "Les graveurs du XIXe siècle: Guide de l'amateur d'estampes modernes", Vol. XII, Paris, 1885–1892 - Henri Béraldi: cat. No. 778; "Inventaire du Fonds Francais Apres 1800" - Jean Adhémar, Jacques Lethève: cat. No. 394, page 383; Laran No. 394 Framing: Recently framed in a gold Baroque moulding and rag matting from Holland Framed size: 23.75" x 19.75" Sheet size: 15.25" x 11.5" Image size: 14" x 10.5" Condition: In excellent condition Notes: "B" inscribed by Bracquemond in ink lower left. There is an example of this work in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. Biography: Félix Bracquemond was born in Paris. He was trained in early youth as a trade lithographer, until Guichard, a pupil of Ingres, took him to his studio. His portrait of his grandmother, painted by him at the age of nineteen, attracted Théophile Gautier's attention at the Salon. He applied himself to engraving and etching about 1853, and played a leading and brilliant part in the revival of the etcher's art in France. Altogether he produced over eight hundred plates, comprising portraits, landscapes, scenes of contemporary life, and bird-studies, besides numerous interpretations of other artist's paintings, especially those of Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, Gustave Moreau and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. After having been attached to the Sèvres porcelain factory in 1870, he accepted a post as art manager of the Paris atelier of the firm of Haviland of Limoges. He was connected by a link of firm friendship with Édouard Manet, James McNeill Whistler, and all the other fighters in the impressionist cause, and received all the honors that await the successful artist in France, including the grade of Officer of the Legion of Honor in 1889. Bracquemond was a prominent figure in artistic and literary circles in the second half of the 19th century. He was close to writers such as Edmond de Goncourt and critic Gustave Geffroy, and numbered among his friends Millet and Corot, Henri Fantin-Latour, Degas and the Impressionist circle, and Auguste Rodin. He was one of the more prolific printmakers of his time and he was awarded the grande medaille d'honneur at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. He was also a painter, ceramist, and an innovator in decorative arts. Gabriel Weisberg called him the "molder of artistic taste in his time". Indeed, it was he who recognised the beauty of the Hokusai woodcuts used as packing around a shipment of Japanese china, a discovery which helped change the look of late 19th-century art. He married French Impressionist artist Marie Bracquemond...

Artist: Aileen Mary Elliot (English, 1896-1966) Title: "Crab Boats, Southampton Water" *Signed by Elliot in pencil lower right Circa: 1925 Medium: Original Drypoint Etching on laid p...

A brilliant, richly-inked impression of this etching and drypoint printed in dark brownish black on antique cream laid paper with very strong contrasts....