James Abbott McNeill Whistler Etching, 1959, "Eagle Wharf"

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...

JAMES MCNEILL WHISTLER (1834-1903) Limehouse, from Notes lithotint, on cream Japan paper mounted to plate paper (as issued), 1878, Spink, Stratis & Tedesch 7, second state (of three)...

Etching printed in dark brownish black ink on cream laid paper, 6 x 8 7/8 inches (152 x 226 mm); full margins. Extremely minor and unobtrusive band of toning along the top sheet edg...

20 in x 16 in - image size Etching (Reproduction). Measures 20 x 16 inches and is framed. The piece is in Very Good Condition.

20 in x 16 in - image size Etching (Reproduction). Measures 20 x 16 inches and is framed. The piece is in Very Good Condition.

Not signed. Edition of the "Gazette des Beaux-Arts" .The American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler can be considered a forerunner of the Post-Impressionist movement. Very good co...

James Whistler (1830-1903), Battersea Morn (also Battersea Dawn), drypoint, 1875, Kennedy 155, signed in pencil with the butterfly and inscribed “imp”. Kennedy 155, first state (of ...

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 Abbott McNeill Whistler (American, 1834-1903) Little Court, 1880-1 Etching and drypoint, printed in black ink on ivory laid paper; first state of two (Glasgow), 4 3/4 x 6 3/4 ...

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 plate lower left]. Reference: Glasgow 209, third state (of 3), Kennedy 216, third state (of 3); Lochnan 231, 4 7/8 x 7 7/8 inches. A fine impression with very little plate tone, and printed with extraordinary attention to the etching and drypoint details. The printed butterfly, usually only barely visible, is clearly defined in this impression (see detail below). Kennedy mades special note that an impression like this, with the clearly visible butterfly, was in the collection of John H. Wrenn. On a commission from the Fine Arts Society, Whistler created the plates of his Venice series...