?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
JAMES A. M. WHISTLER Fumette.
Etching printed in black on cream laid Japan paper, 1858. 163x110 mm; 6 3/8x4 1/4 inches, full margins. MacDonald's fifth state (of 5), with the name and address of the printer, Delâtre, lower left. Signed with the butterfly in pencil, lower right. From Twelve Etchings from Nature. A brilliant, richly-inked, early impression with warm plate tone.
Fumette, or 'Racy' as her nickname translates, was also known as 'La Tigresse' because of her hot temper. Her real name was Héliose; she was a milliner from the Latin Quarter of Paris and one of Whistler's models and mistresses during the late 1850s. The solidness of the figure, set against a blank background, is typical of many Whistler portraits from this period. Fumette was also the model for several of Whistler's other etchings (Kennedy 3, 15, 56, 57 and 59; see lot 74).
Signed impressions of this subject, indicating Whistler's preference for the quality of the printing and possibly promoting its sale to an important collector, are extremely uncommon. MacDonald notes approximately only 5 signed impressions in public collections and we have found approximately only 4 signed impressions at auction in the past 30 years. Kennedy 13; Glasgow 12.
