Mar 14, 2024 - Sale 2662

Sale 2662 - Lot 22

Price Realized: $ 1,062
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
JAMES A. M. WHISTLER
Fumette.

Etching printed in black on antique cream laid paper, 1858. 163x110 mm; 6⅜x4¼ inches, wide margins. MacDonald's fifth state (of 5), with the name and address of the printer, Delâtre, lower left. From Douze eaux-fortes d'après Nature. A very good impression.

Fumette, or 'Racy' as her nickname translates, was also known as 'La Tigresse' because of her hot temper. Her real name was Héloise; she was a milliner from the Latin Quarter of Paris and one of Whistler's (1834-1903) 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 (see Kennedy 3, 15, 56, 57 and 59). Kennedy 13; Glasgow 12.