The Seamstress

Maker(s)
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
Historical period(s)
ca. 1884-1886
Medium
Etching; ink on paper
Dimensions
H x W: 9.9 x 6.6 cm (3 7/8 x 2 5/8 in)
Geography
United States
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1903.248
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Print
Type

Intaglio

Keywords
interior, United States, woman, work
Provenance

Mortimer Menpes (1855-1938), England [1]

To 1903
Obach & Co., London, to 1903 [2]

From 1903 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Obach & Co. in 1903 [3]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

Notes:

[1] See Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

[2] See Original Whistler List, Etchings, Voucher No. 11, December 1903, 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)

Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
Mortimer Menpes United Kingdom, born Australia, 1855-1938
Obach & Co. (C.L. Freer source) 1884-1911

Label

Whistler etchings are identified by "G" numbers as assigned in "James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonn&‌eacute;," by Margaret F. McDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock (University of Glasgow, 2012), http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk. This print is G253 state 1 of 3.

Published References
  • Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, Joanna Meacock. James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonée., 2012. .
  • Howard Mansfield. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Etchings and Dry-points of James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Chicago, 1909. .
  • Katharine Lochnan. The Etchings of James McNeill Whistler. Exh. cat. New Haven and London, 1984. .
  • Edward G. Kennedy. The Etched Work of Whistler: Illustrated by Reproductions in Collotype of the Different States of the Plates. 4 vols., New York, 1910. .
  • Susan Grace Galassi, Margaret F. MacDonald, Aileen Ribeiro. Whistler, Women, and Fashion. Exh. cat. New Haven and New York, April 22 - July 13, 2003. p. 217, fig. 218.
Collection Area(s)
American Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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