Whistler with the White Lock |  Freer Gallery of Art (1891.15) | |
| Number: | 162 | |
| Date: | 1876/1879 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 118 x 80 mm | |
| Signed: | no | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | 'Cancelled Plates', 1879 | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 34 | |
| Catalogues: | K.172; M.169; W.142 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (34) | ||
PUBLICATION
It was published in an album of Cancelled Plates ('Cancelled Set') by The Fine Art Society, London, 1879.
H. Wunderlich & Co. printed an new edition of sixteen, priced at $15, in 1889.
EXHIBITIONS
Although this was a self-portrait of the artist, it was rare and rarely exhibited. Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) lent an impression, worked over in watercolour, to the Union League Club exhibition in 1881 (
). Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) lent an impression to the show organised by the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900 (). 10
Impressions were also for sale in exhibitions by the print dealer H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York in 1898 and (twice) in 1903. 11
After Whistler's death, impressions were shown at the Grolier Club in New York in 1904, and at the Whistler Memorial Exhibition in London in 1905. 12
). Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) lent an impression to the show organised by the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900 (). 10 Impressions were also for sale in exhibitions by the print dealer H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York in 1898 and (twice) in 1903. 11
After Whistler's death, impressions were shown at the Grolier Club in New York in 1904, and at the Whistler Memorial Exhibition in London in 1905. 12
10: New York 1881 (cat. no. 151); Chicago 1900 (cat. no. 124). See REFERENCES: EXHIBITIONS.
11: New York 1898 (cat. no. 121); New York 1903b (cat. no. 105).
12: New York 1904a (cat. no. 143); London Mem. 1905 (cat. no. 142).
SALES & COLLECTORS
The first sale may have been the one recorded as 'Nov 14. D P. Head' (that is, dry point head) sold by Whistler to Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890) in 1877. 13
13: [6-25 November 1877], GUW #02178.
George Aloysius Lucas (1824-1909) () and Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) () were among early collectors, probably buying impressions in or after 1878. Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought impressions from Wunderlich's of New York in 1891 and 1903 (, ). Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) owned one by 1900 ().
) and Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) () were among early collectors, probably buying impressions in or after 1878. Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought impressions from Wunderlich's of New York in 1891 and 1903 (, ). Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) owned one by 1900 ().Surviving impressions are often in the album of 'Cancelled Plates' as published in 1879. For instance, the British Museum bought an album in 1887 (), and Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought a set from Knoedler & Co. in 1893 (). Thomas Glen Arthur (1858-1907) also acquired a set in 1887 () which later went to Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Boston Public Library likewise acquired a set ().
), and Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought a set from Knoedler & Co. in 1893 (). Thomas Glen Arthur (1858-1907) also acquired a set in 1887 () which later went to Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Boston Public Library likewise acquired a set ().Prices were low but collectors and collections were keen to have the set of cancelled etchings, as a record of a substantial number of otherwise unrecorded etchings and drypoints. A set, probably acquired from the Fine Art Society by Alphonse Wyatt Thibaudeau (ca 1840- d.1892), was auctioned in 1889 and bought by Robert Dunthorne (b. ca 1851) for £0.6.0. 14 Dunthorne exchanged it for other works with Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) who bequeathed it to the University of Glasgow (see ).
). 14: Sotheby's, London, 13 December 1889 (lot 787 or 789).
Collectors of impressions re-issued by H. Wunderlich & Co. included Henry Harper Benedict (1844-1935), Walter Stanton Brewster (1872-1954) and Albert Eugene Gallatin (1882-1952). Other dealers such as Frederick Keppel (1845-1912) and the Anderson Galleries bought impressions, too. 15 Probably the most expensive impression of Whistler
with the White Lock was the one sold by Knoedler & Co. in cooperation with Colnaghi’s to Margaret Selkirk Watson Parker (1867-1936) for $750 in 1913. An impression from the Wunderlich re-issue () and one from the plate as finally cancelled were bought from Wunderlich's by Lessing Julius Rosenwald (1891-1971) and were given by him to the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC ().
) and one from the plate as finally cancelled were bought from Wunderlich's by Lessing Julius Rosenwald (1891-1971) and were given by him to the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC ().15: Kennedy Ledgers, Colby College of Art.