UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

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Arthur Haden

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1892.1)
Number: 66
Date: 1859
Medium: drypoint
Size: 229 x 154 mm
Signed: 'Whistler.' (2-final) at lower left
Inscribed: '1869' at lower left (2-3); changed to '1859' (4)
Set/Publication: 'Cancelled Plates', 1879
No. of States: 4
Known impressions: 31
Catalogues: K.61; M.61; T.59; W.47
Impressions taken from this plate  (31)

PUBLICATION

It was published in an album of Cancelled Plates ('Cancelled Set') by The Fine Art Society, London, 1879.

EXHIBITIONS

The first recorded exhibition was with the collection of James Anderson Rose (1819-1890) in a travelling show that went to Liverpool and elsewhere in 1874. This was followed by a 'splendid proof' lent by Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) to the Union League Club in 1881. 9

These were followed by a sequence of loan, dealer and international exhibitions. An impression belonging to Bernard Buchanan MacGeorge (1845?-1924) was lent to the Glasgow International Exhibition, 1888 (probably Graphic with a link to impression #K0610202 or Graphic with a link to impression #K0610103). 10 One was shown in the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893.

The sitter's father, Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910), owned impressions of the first two states of Arthur Haden. They were exhibited by H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York in 1898 and bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) (Graphic with a link to impression #K0610102, Graphic with a link to impression #K0610203). 11 Freer then lent what was called a 'trial proof' to the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900. 12 Howard Mansfield (1849-1938) lent an impression to a loan show at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1902 (Graphic with a link to impression #K0610205). 13

Several impressions were exhibited in the Memorial Exhibitions after Whistler's death, including the comprehensive exhibition at the Grolier Club in 1904, again, probably lent by Freer. Howard Mansfield (1849-1938) lent one to the Boston show in 1904, another was lent from the Royal Collection to the London show in 1905, and John Charles Sigismund Day (1826-1908) lent one to Rotterdam in 1906 (Graphic with a link to impression #K0610303). 14

9: Liverpool 1874 (cat. no. 472); New York 1881 (cat. no. 68). See REFERENCES: EXHIBITIONS.

10: Glasgow 1888 (cat. no. 2552-14).

11: New York 1898 (cat. no. 44).

12: New York 1898 (cat. no. 44) ; Chicago 1900 (cat. no. 45).

13: Philadelphia 1902 (cat. no. 947 (47).

14: Boston 1904 (cat. no. 41); London Mem. 1905 (cat. no. 47); Rotterdam 1906 (cat. no. 73).

SALES & COLLECTORS

Wedmore wrote 'There are trial proofs of this dry-point in different stages. The earliest known - before the signature and date - was bought by Hogarth at the Burty [Philippe Burty (1830-1890)] Sale for 7l. 12s'. 15

A fine richly printed second state, with soft burr, was among the first group of Whistler's etchings to be sold to a public collection. It was among 16 etchings sold for a total of £10.10.10 by the sitter's father, Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910) to South Kensington Museum on 1 January 1861 (Graphic with a link to impression #K0610206). 16

One impression returned to Whistler for signature about 1890 was acquired by Bernard Buchanan MacGeorge (1845?-1924), and later by Henry Harper Benedict (1844-1935) and by Harris G. Whittemore (d. ca 1937) (Graphic with a link to impression #K0610103). A second state owned by MacGeorge (and also signed by Whistler around 1890) was bought by John Henry Wrenn (1841-1911) and bequeathed by his widow to the Art Institute of Chicago (Graphic with a link to impression #K0610202).

15: Wedmore 1886 A (cat. no. 47).

16: V&A Register of Prints, p. 32.

At the sale of the important collection of the late Joshua Hutchinson Hutchinson (ca 1829 - d.1891) at Sotheby’s, 3 March 1892 (lot 98) an impression described as a 'trial proof' (but actually a second state) was bought by Edmund F. Deprez (1851-1915) for £10.15.0 and sold to Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) (Graphic with a link to impression #K0610204). The following lot, another 'trial proof' was bought by another print dealer Frederick Keppel (1845-1912) of F. Keppel & Co. for £7.0.0 (Graphic with a link to impression #K0610335). This may have been the impression of the third state bought by Albert Henry Wiggin (1868-1951) for Boston Public Library (Graphic with a link to impression #K0610335).
An early impression owned by William Richard Drake (1817-1890) was sold in 1892 as 'Boy in a Velvet Dress' and was described as 'before the signature and date'. 17 Again, it was bought by Keppel for £7.0.0.

17: Christie’s, 8-9 March 1892 (lot 328).