Atelier de Bijouterie |  Hunterian Art Gallery (49909) | |
| Number: | 378 | |
| Date: | 1887/1888 | |
| Medium: | etching | |
| Size: | 127 x 216 mm | |
| Signed: | no | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | no | |
| No. of States: | 1 | |
| Known impressions: | 3 | |
| Catalogues: | K.433; M.430 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (3) | ||
KEYWORD
arch, café, children, fish shop, jewellers, people, shop, streetscape.
TITLE
Minor variations on the title are as follows:
'ATELIER DE BIJOUTERIE' (1890s, Whistler). 1
'Atelier Bijouterie' (1900, Caxton Club). 2
'La Bijouterie. - (Jeweller's Shop)' (1905, Paris). 3
'Jeweller's Shop' (1905, ISSPG). 4
'Atelier de Bijouterie' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 5
'Atelier de Bijouterie' (Jewellery Shop) is the original and generally accepted title.
'ATELIER DE BIJOUTERIE' (1890s, Whistler). 1
'Atelier Bijouterie' (1900, Caxton Club). 2
'La Bijouterie. - (Jeweller's Shop)' (1905, Paris). 3
'Jeweller's Shop' (1905, ISSPG). 4
'Atelier de Bijouterie' (1909, Howard Mansfield (1849-1938)). 5
'Atelier de Bijouterie' (Jewellery Shop) is the original and generally accepted title.
1: Etched on copper plate.
2: Chicago 1900 (cat. no. 273).
3: Paris Mem. 1905 (cat. no. 432).
4: London Mem. 1905 (cat. no. 374).
5: Mansfield 1909[more] (cat. no. 430).
DESCRIPTION
The ground floor façade of three shops: on the left is a cafe, with men and women sitting outside, and a woman serving them, and what may be a closed umbrella or awning to right. This is bounded on the right by some bushes or flowering branches in two barrels.
In the centre is a heavily rusticated arch, with a woman and baby looking out of the semi-circular lunette at the top, then a signboard reading 'ATELIER DE / BIJOUTERIE' above the heavily barred window below, and a small rectangular grating just above the pavement. Above the arch is a large sign that is largely illegible, but may read: '[Msr VAGHT..E?] G. HAAG Sr / [BOUT]IQUE DE BIJOUTE[RIE] / ----SUR ET MED[AILL]ES ... [C]ROIX D---OL-'.
To right is another arched shop, with a large signboard reading 'SAGET / GRAVEUR' followed by largely illegible letters, possibly 'MIROFAGES … / ...C...S…C...RIFF...C PO-ISONS'. The shop space below is divided into two, the left half blank, and the right containing a group of women standing and seated, talking and working, in the open door, against a shadowy interior.
Between these two shops is a small boy, seen from behind, looking towards the jewellery shop, and above him a small sign that may read '9'.
SITE
Not identified. It could be a shop in Paris or Brussels. It is strange that this etching, which is a complex composition, is not listed in studio inventories by Whistler or his wife.
DISCUSSION
Similar subjects etched in Brussels include Petite Rue au Beurre, Brussels 341,
High Street, Brussels 343,
Archway, Brussels 344 and
The Barrow - Quartier des Marolles, Brussels 346; and in Paris, Quai de Montebello 385,
Passages de l'Opéra 386, and Sunflowers, Marché St Germain, Paris 437.