?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 5,000
JAMES A. M. WHISTLER A Portrait: Mildred Howells.
Lithograph on antique, cream laid paper, 1894-96. 226x185 mm; 9x7 1/2 inches, full margins. First state (of 3), before the removal of much of the background shading to the right of the sitter. Edition of approximately only 6 (in all 3 states). Ex-collection Rosalind Birnie Philip, the artist's sister-in-law (Lugt 405, verso). A superb, dark impression of this exceedingly scarce lithograph.
Mildred Howells (1872-1966) was the daughter of the American novelist William Dean Howells and Elinor Mead; her brother lived near the Whistler's 110, Rue de Bac, address in Paris and likely introduced her to the artist.
We have found only one other impression at auction in the past 30 years. Way 75; Levy 113; Spink 112.
