The Camp |  Freer Gallery of Art (1893.46) | |
| Number: | 80 | |
| Date: | 1861 | |
| Medium: | drypoint | |
| Size: | 288 x 159 mm | |
| Signed: | 'Whistler.' at lower left | |
| Inscribed: | '1861.' at lower left | |
| Set/Publication: | 'Cancelled Plates', 1879 | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 20 | |
| Catalogues: | K.82; M.82; T.68; W.75 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (20) | ||
Whistler dated The Camp '1861.' on the copper plate.
According to Lochnan, 'In June, 1861 ... Edwards invited Ridley and Whistler to take the boat on a camping trip to Maple Durham. On the voyage Whistler appears to have made the drypoints Encamping ... and The Storm ... while Edwards worked on his plates Under the Willows, Maple Durham and Our Camp at Maple Durham, inscribed "June 18, 1861."' 1
According to Lochnan, 'In June, 1861 ... Edwards invited Ridley and Whistler to take the boat on a camping trip to Maple Durham. On the voyage Whistler appears to have made the drypoints Encamping ... and The Storm ... while Edwards worked on his plates Under the Willows, Maple Durham and Our Camp at Maple Durham, inscribed "June 18, 1861."' 1
1: Lochnan 1984, pp. 130-131.
The etching, Our Camp at Maple Durham, by Edwin Edwards (1823-1879), 2 shows small tents on the banks of the river under the shade of huge willow trees; it is very likely that Whistler's etching The Camp was done on that same camping trip.
2: British Museum Print Room, 1889,0508.10.