UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

Etchings         Institutions search term: wunderlich

Church Doorway, Edgware

Impression: Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
(1924.659)
Number: 291
Date: 1887/1888
Medium: etching
Size: 99 x 67 mm
Signed: butterfly at left
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 1
Known impressions: 3
Catalogues: K.303; M.298
Impressions taken from this plate  (3)

KEYWORD

arch, architecture, building, church, door.

TITLE

Variations on the title are as follows:

'Church Doorway' (1888, Whistler). 2
'Church door - Edgeware [sic]' (1897, Wunderlich's). 3
'Church Doorway, Edgemere' (1902, Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932)). 4


'Church Door, Edgware' is based on Whistler's title. Kennedy was mistaken in calling the site Edgeware.

2: Whistler to Dowdeswell's, 17 November 1888, GUW #13028.

3: Wunderlich's to Whistler, [August 1897], GUW #07289.

4: Kennedy 1902 (cat. no. 270).

DESCRIPTION

An arched doorway with closed doors, and with carved door-frame. Upon the door at the right notices are posted. The bottom of a small window with small panes is seen over the door.

SITE

Comparative image
Entrance door, Church of St Margaret of Antioch, Edgware.
This is the main door of the Church of St Margaret of Antioch in Edgware, in the London borough of Barnet. The church stands on the north-west side of Station Road near its junction with the High Street. The tower dates back at least to the 15th century, and possibly a century earlier. The church has been repaired and enlarged over the centuries. 5

Whistler was probably sitting by the path leading to the church to draw the view.

5: T. F. T. Baker, J. S. Cockburn, R. B. Pugh (Editors), 'Edgware Churches', A History of the County of Middlesex, Vol. 4, 1971, pp. 163-166, on British History OnLine at http://www.british-history.ac.uk (accessed 2010).

Comparative image
Church of St Margaret of Antioch, Edgware.
Photographs © M.F. MacDonald, Whistler Etchings Project, 2010.
Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932) thought this was in 'Edgemere' but there is no such place in Britain. 6 Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) was the only one who - probably having consulted Whistler - realised it was Edgware, and wrote 'Church Door. Edgeware' on one impression (Graphic with a link to impression #K3030103).

6: New York 1898 (cat. no. 198).