UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

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Lobster Pots - Selsea Bill

Impression: Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
(1917.469)
Number: 241
Date: 1880/1881
Medium: etching and drypoint
Size: 121 x 203 mm
Signed: butterfly at lower right
Inscribed: 'Selsea Bill'
Set/Publication: 'Second Venice Set', 1886
No. of States: 4
Known impressions: 32
Catalogues: K.235; M.233; W.174
Impressions taken from this plate  (32)

KEYWORD

beach, fishing, lobsterpots, sea.

TITLE

Variations on the title are as follows:


'Selsea Bill' (1880, Whistler). 2
'Lobster Pots' (1883, F.A.S.). 3
'Lobster Pots' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 4
'Lobster Pots - Selsea Bill' (1890/1892, Beatrice Whistler (1857-1896)). 5
'Lobster-Pots' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). (1910, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 6


'Lobster Pots - Selsea Bill' combines Whistler's titles.

2: Etched on copper plate.

3: London FAS 1883 (cat.no. 23).

4: Wedmore 1886 A , cat. no. 174.

5: List, [1890/1892], GUW #12715.

6: Mansfield 1909 , cat. no. 233; Kennedy 1910 , cat. no. 235.

DESCRIPTION

In the foreground, and in the distance at the right, are a number of lobster-pots on a curving beach. At the left is a small boat.

SITE

Selsea Bill on the south coast of England, where Whistler was visiting Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890). Whistler painted Selsey Bill [m0863] there.

DISCUSSION

Fishing gear and fishing boats appealed to Whistler as subjects: see, for instance Billingsgate [51], Fishing Boats, Hastings [163] and The Fishing Boat [198]. He also etched fish-stalls and shops such as The Fishing Boat [198], The Fish Shop, Venice [226], Fish-Shop, Chelsea [267], Fish Women, Ostend [349] and Fishing Quay, Ostend [351].