Free Trade Wharf |  Freer Gallery of Art (1888.36) | |
| Number: | 171 | |
| Date: | 1877 | |
| Medium: | etching and drypoint | |
| Size: | 99 x 186 mm | |
| Signed: | butterfly at lower left (3-final) | |
| Inscribed: | no | |
| Set/Publication: | Fine Art Society, 1879? | |
| No. of States: | 8 | |
| Known impressions: | 33 | |
| Catalogues: | K.163; M.160; W.134 | |
| Impressions taken from this plate (33) | ||
PUBLICATION
It was published by the Fine Art Society, London, in 1879 in an edition of 100 impressions, printed by Frederick Goulding (1842-1909). It is possible this edition was not completed.
EXHIBITIONS
A 'trial proof' () and 'finished state' () lent by Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) were exhibited in the Union League Club in New York in 1881. 12
Thereafter impressions were exhibited by H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York in 1898 (bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919)) and 1903. 13 Howard Mansfield (1849-1938) planned to include it in the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 but for some reason it was dropped. 14 Impression were lent by both Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) () and Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) to the exhibition organised by the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900 (either or ). 15
Finally impressions were shown in the Memorial Exhibitions after Whistler's death, including the Grolier Club in New York in 1904, and by the Copley Society in Boston in the same year. An impression from the Royal Collection was lent to the Whistler Memorial Exhibition in London in 1905 (). 16
Thereafter impressions were exhibited by H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York in 1898 (bought by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919)) and 1903. 13 Howard Mansfield (1849-1938) planned to include it in the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 but for some reason it was dropped. 14 Impression were lent by both Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) () and Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) to the exhibition organised by the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900 (either or ). 15
Finally impressions were shown in the Memorial Exhibitions after Whistler's death, including the Grolier Club in New York in 1904, and by the Copley Society in Boston in the same year. An impression from the Royal Collection was lent to the Whistler Memorial Exhibition in London in 1905 (). 16
12: New York 1881 (cat. nos. 143, 144). See REFERENCES: EXHIBITIONS.
13: New York 1898 (cat. no. 113); New York 1903b (cat. no. 100).
14: Mansfield to Whistler, 10 January 1893, #04000; Chicago 1893.
15: Chicago 1900 (cat. nos. 118, 118a).
16: New York 1904a (cat. no. 136); Boston 1904 (cat. no. 100); London Mem. 1905 (cat. no. 134).
SALES & COLLECTORS
Whistler sold impressions to Marcus Bourne Huish (1843-1904) of the Fine Art Society, Charles Augustus Howell (1840?-1890), and J. Hogarth & Sons in October 1877 for £4.4.0 each. 17 At least another two went to Howell for £2.2.0 on 11 November 1877: why the price was so abruptly reduced is not clear. 18
Although most impressions were presumably sold by the Fine Art Society after publication in 1879, Whistler sold an impression on 17 May 1886 to a rival print dealer, Thomas M. McLean (b. ca 1832) for £8.8.0. 19 Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought one of the published impressions from F. Keppel & Co. on 10 November 1888 () and another, rather richer, more heavily inked impression, ten years later () originally from the collection of Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910), from H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York in 1898 ().
Although most impressions were presumably sold by the Fine Art Society after publication in 1879, Whistler sold an impression on 17 May 1886 to a rival print dealer, Thomas M. McLean (b. ca 1832) for £8.8.0. 19 Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought one of the published impressions from F. Keppel & Co. on 10 November 1888 () and another, rather richer, more heavily inked impression, ten years later () originally from the collection of Francis Seymour Haden, Sr (1818-1910), from H. Wunderlich & Co. in New York in 1898 ().
17: 10 October 1877, GUW #12734; 12 October-5 November [1877], #12735; 22-27 October [1877], #12737.
18: 9-11 November [1877], GUW #12738.
19: GUW #13011.
At auction in 1890 an impression was bought by 'Fawcett' for £0.16.0. At the rather more important sale of the collection of the late Joshua Hutchinson Hutchinson (ca 1829 - d.1891) in 1892 a 'first state' was bought by Edmund F. Deprez (1851-1915) for £4.15.0. 20
20: Sotheby's, 25 February 1890 (lot 116); 3 March 1892 (lot 217).
Early collectors included Samuel Putnam Avery (1822-1904) (); George Aloysius Lucas (1824-1909) (); Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916), who may have bought it from H. Wunderlich & Co. (, stock no. A 31262) and Clarence Buckingham (1855-1913) (, also handled at some time by Wunderlich's); Harry Brisbane Dick (1855-1916) (); Margaret Selkirk Watson Parker (1867-1936), who bought it from Colnaghi's (stock no. c.20658) () ; and Albert Henry Wiggin (1868-1951) (). These etchings all went to help form some of the greatest print collections in America. Avery's etching went to New York Public Library; Lucas's to the Baltimore Museum of Art; Lathrop and Cunningham's to the Art Institute of Chicago; Dick's to the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Parker's to the University of Michigan Museum of Art; and Wiggin's to Boston Public Library. Whistler himself left one to Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958) who bequeathed it to the University of Glasgow ().