James Abbott McNeill Whistler

The Venetian Mast

1879-80

La Fruitière de la Rue de Grenelle (The Fruitseller in Grenelle Street). 1894. Lithograph. Way 56, Levy 87, Stratis, Spink and Tedeschi 106. 9 x 6 (sheet 11 1/4 x 8 3/4). Way lists 33 impressions; Goulding printed 31 posthumous impressions on October 15, 1903. A good impression printed in black ink on white machine-made wove paper. Fair condition -- horizontal centerfold, a small 1/4-inch stain in the lower right, outside the image. Monogrammed with the butterfly on the awning. Housed in a 21 3/4 x 19 3/4-inch gold Whistler-style frame. A charming presentation of this scarce Whistler lithograph...

The Little Wheelwright's. 1886. Etching. Kennedy 245; Glasgow 242. 2 1/2 x 3 3/4 (sheet 5 1/8 x 6 1/8). There was no lifetime edition. Glasgow lists only 13 other known impressions. A fine impression printed in black ink on white laid paper. Monogrammed with the butterfly in the plate. Housed in a 10 X 11 1/2 X 1-inch gold leaf period carved Celtic...

Tête-à-Tête in the Garden. 1894. Lithograph. Way 54, Levy 85, Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink 90. 8 x 6 1/2(sheet 10 7/8 x 8 1/2). Edition of 25 lifetime impressions plus a few proofs...

The Little Café au Bois. 1894. Lithograph. Way 56, Levy 87, Stratis, Spink and Tedeschi 91.i. 8 1/2 x 6 (sheet: 11 1/8 x 9). A fine lifetime impression printed on 'Van Gelder Zonen'...

The Fair. 1895-96. Lithograph. Way 92, Levy 144, Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink 135 state ii. Image 9 1/4 x 6 1/2 (sheet 13 x 9 5/8). A fine impression printed on antique cream laid paper. Way lists 15-lifetime impressions (Goulding printed...

Kennedy catalog 36 state ii; Glasgow 45 state ii. Image: 4 7/8 x 7 3/4 (sheet 6 7/8 x 9 5/8).The Glasgow catalog records 32 known impressions. A scarce early etching -- there was no ...

James Abbott McNeill Whistler, 'En Plein Soleil' from the French Set (Douze eau-fortes d'apres Nature), etching, 1858, edition 61, 4th state of 4, K...

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...

James Whistler (1834-1903), J.H. Woods’ Fruit Shop, Chelsea, etching and drypoint, 1887-88. Signed with the butterfly on the tab and annotated “imp,” also signed with the butterfly in pencil verso and numbered “1”. References: Kennedy 265 second state (of 2), Glasgow 327 second state (of 4). Trimmed by the artist around the plate mark except for the tab, in excellent condition. Printed in black ink on ivory laid paper, 3 3/4 x 5 1/8 inches. A fine impression of this great rarity; the print was never published. Glasgow accounts for four impressions. watermark: partial arms of Amsterdam(cf. Spink/Stratis/Tedeschi, watermark nos. 12ff.) This is before the third state in which heavy shading was added around the woman at the center, and the heads of figures at right and left of the figure are defined. In Glasgow’s fourth state the shading and the figure were removed; no impression is known of this state, but the state is inferred from the cancelled plate. According to Glasgow “Joseph Henry Wood had a greengrocer’s shop at 1 Park Walk...

James Whistler (1834-1903), The Traghetto, etching and drypoint, 1879-80, signed with the butterfly on the tab and inscribed “imp”. Reference: Kennedy...

James Whistler (1834-1903), The Mill, 1889, etching and drypoint, signed in pencil with the butterfly on the tab and inscribed “imp”, and inscribed “first state” (twice) and annotated “Wunderlich” and signed again with the butterfly verso. Reference: Kennedy 413, first state (of 5). Glasgow 457, second state (of 6; see discussion below) (cf. Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock, James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow, 2011) On laid paper, in very good condition, trimmed just outside of the platemark all around except for the tab by the artist, 6 1/4 x 9 3/8 inches. A very fine impression of this great rarity, printed in black/brown ink with a slight veil of plate tone. provenance: H. Wunderlich & Co., New York Louis B. Dailey, New York (Lugt 4500) sale, Sotheby’s, New York, October 31, 2003, lot 69 literature; Neue Lagerliste 122: James McNeill Whistler – Etchings...

James McNeill Whistler (1830-1903), Lagoon: Noon, etching and drypoint, 1879-1880, signed with the butterfly and inscribed “imp” on the tab [also signed with the butterfly in the pla...

Whistler, James A. M. LIMEHOUSE. Glascow 48 vi; Kennedy 40 iii. Etching, 1859. The final state. Signed "Whistler" in the plate. Printed on thin laid paper. 5 x 8 inches, 126 x 203 mm...

A superb, richly-inked impression of this etching and drypoint, printed in dark brownish black on antique cream laid paper. Second state (of 3). Edition of approximately 30. Signed w...

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Limehouse, etching, 1859. References: Glasgow 48, fifth state (of 6), Kennedy 40, third state (of 3), signed with the butterfly in pencil in the lower margin. [Also signed and dated in the plate.]With margins, 5 x 7 7/8 inches, the sheet 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches. Published as no. 12 in A Series of Sixteen Etchings of Scenes on the Thames and Other Subjects, otherwise known as the Thames Set. In good condition apart from a soft diagonal fold in the sky. A very fine impression, in black ink on a thin Japan paper. Provenance: Dr. John W. Randall (cf. Lugt 2130), without his mark, annotated on the mat. Limehouse, the entrance to the West Indies Docks, lies opposite the Surrey Commercial Docks in Rotherhithe, along the lower Thames. It’s unusual to find the signed butterfly (or any pencil signature) on the early London etchings, but it is known that Whistler signed...

"Fulham A.K.A. Chelsea" is an original etching by James Abbott MacNeill Whistler. The artist signed the piece in the plate with his butterfly monogram in the lower right. IT was publ...

Etching and drypoint printed in black ink on cream laid Japan paper, 6 x 8 7/8 inches (152 x 225 mm), full margins. Kennedy's 8th state (of 8). From the special edition of 100 impres...

James Abbott McNeill Whistler, 'En Plein Soleil' from the French Set (Douze eau-fortes d'apres Nature), etching, 1858, edition 61, 4th state of 4, K...

A superb, richly-inked impression of this etching and drypoint, printed in dark brownish black on antique cream laid paper. Second state (of 3). Edition of approximately 30. Signed w...

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...

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...

James Whistler (1834-1903), J.H. Woods’ Fruit Shop, Chelsea, etching and drypoint, 1887-88. Signed with the butterfly on the tab and annotated “imp,” also signed with the butterfly in pencil verso and numbered “1”. References: Kennedy 265 second state (of 2), Glasgow 327 second state (of 4). Trimmed by the artist around the plate mark except for the tab, in excellent condition. Printed in black ink on ivory laid paper, 3 3/4 x 5 1/8 inches. A fine impression of this great rarity; the print was never published. Glasgow accounts for four impressions. watermark: partial arms of Amsterdam(cf. Spink/Stratis/Tedeschi, watermark nos. 12ff.) This is before the third state in which heavy shading was added around the woman at the center, and the heads of figures at right and left of the figure are defined. In Glasgow’s fourth state the shading and the figure were removed; no impression is known of this state, but the state is inferred from the cancelled plate. According to Glasgow “Joseph Henry Wood had a greengrocer’s shop at 1 Park Walk...