Portrait of Whistler |  Freer Gallery of Art (1898.208) | |
| Number: | 5 | |
| Date: | 1857 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 118 x 80 mm | |
| Signed: | 'J. W.' at lower right | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 3 | |
| Catalogues: | K.7; M.9; T.-; W.1 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (3) | ||
PUBLICATION
Portrait of Whistler was not published.
EXHIBITIONS
One impression was lent by Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) to the Union League Club in New York in 1881 (
). It was exhibited beside Annie Haden, with books () with the comment, in the catalogue, 'The only impressions known of these two plates, which are earlier than 1858'; this was correct in respect to Annie Haden, with books, but not with regard to the self-portrait, since three impressions are known. 11
H. Wunderlich & Co. of New York exhibited this rare etching in 1898. One impression was lent by Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932) to the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. 12 A few years later, in 1900, Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) lent both an untrimmed () and a trimmed impression () to the exhibition organised by the Caxton Club, also in Chicago. 13 After Whistler's death, an impression was shown in the Grolier Club in New York in 1904 and in the Whistler Memorial Exhibition in London in 1905. 14
). It was exhibited beside Annie Haden, with books () with the comment, in the catalogue, 'The only impressions known of these two plates, which are earlier than 1858'; this was correct in respect to Annie Haden, with books, but not with regard to the self-portrait, since three impressions are known. 11 H. Wunderlich & Co. of New York exhibited this rare etching in 1898. One impression was lent by Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932) to the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. 12 A few years later, in 1900, Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) lent both an untrimmed (
) and a trimmed impression () to the exhibition organised by the Caxton Club, also in Chicago. 13 After Whistler's death, an impression was shown in the Grolier Club in New York in 1904 and in the Whistler Memorial Exhibition in London in 1905. 14 11: New York 1881 (cat. nos. 1, 2); see REFERENCES: EXHIBITIONS
12: New York 1898 (cat. no. 1); Chicago 1893 (cat. no. 2224).
13: Chicago 1900 (cat. nos. 1, 1a).
14: New York 1904a (cat. no. 1); London Mem. 1905 (cat. no. 1).
SALES & COLLECTORS
Philippe Burty (1830-1890), owned one of the three known impressions, which was bought from his sale by Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904). Avery showed it to Whistler, possibly about 1873, when the artist signed and annotated it, and eventually it went with his collection to form a basis for the New York Public Library Print Collection ().
).
Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919), bought the only other two known impressions of this rare etching in 1898, when he acquired the entire collection of Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910) from H. Wunderlich & Co. (, ).
, ).