UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

Etchings         Institutions search term: keppel

Little Greengrocer's Shop, Chelsea

Impression: Freer Gallery of Art
Freer Gallery of Art
(1902.128)
Number: 264
Date: 1886
Medium: etching and drypoint
Size: 71 x 103 mm
Signed: butterfly at right
Inscribed: no
Set/Publication: no
No. of States: 2
Known impressions: 7
Catalogues: K.259; M.255; W.210
Impressions taken from this plate  (7)

KEYWORD

fruit, greengrocer, shop-front, street, window, woman standing.

TITLE

It is not always possible to identify this etching with certainty. Possible titles include the following examples:



'Fruit-Shop' (1886, Frederick Wedmore (1844-1921)). 2
'Green Grocers' (1886, Whistler). 3
'Greengrocer Chelsea' (1887/1888, Whistler). 4
'Little Green Grocers Shop - Chelsea' (1888, Whistler). 5
'Fruit-Shop. Chelsea' (1903, Obach's). 6
'The Fruit Shop' (1905, ISSPG). 7
'The Little Greengrocer's Shop. Chelsea' (1903/1935, possibly Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958)). 8
'Greengrocer's Shop' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 9



'Little Greengrocers Shop, Chelsea' is the clearest title, distinguishing this etching from similar subjects, derived from one of the artist's titles and confirmed by the artist's sister-in-law Miss Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958).

2: Wedmore 1886 A (cat. no. 210).

3: Whistler to T. McLean, 1 November 1886, GUW #13010.

4: List, [1887/1888], GUW #13233.

5: Whistler to Wunderlich's, 3 May 1888, GUW #13051.

6: London Obach 1903 (cat. no. 180).

7: London Mem. 1905 (cat. no. 210).

8: Envelope containing copper plate, University of Glasgow.

9: Mansfield 1909 (cat. no. 255).

DESCRIPTION

A small shop, with two steps leading to an open door at left, and a closed door at right. Two women stand in the open door, in front of a shadowy interior. To right of the door is a shop-window with many panes, through which are seen shelves with bottles at the top, and fruit and vegetables arranged decoratively below. In front of the window is a broad shelf covered with baskets and vegetables, and in front of that, standing on the pavement, are two large baskets full of produce.

SITE

Chelsea, London, UK. Wedmore described it as 'a fruiterer's and greengrocer's, at Chelsea'. 10

10: Wedmore 1886 A (cat. no. 210).

DISCUSSION

This is one of a series of Chelsea shops (e.g. The Little Rag Shop, Milman's Row [265], Little Steps, Chelsea [269], Fish-Shop, Chelsea [267], J.H. Woods' Fruit Shop, Chelsea [327], The Barber's Shop, Chelsea [263], Rag Shop, Milman's Row, Chelsea [329], Jubilee Place, Chelsea [276] and Justice Walk, Chelsea [441]), including one similar scene, T. A. Nash's Greengrocer's Shop [298].