?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 40,000 - $ 60,000
JAMES A. M. WHISTLER Nocturne.
Etching and drypoint printed in dark brown on cream laid paper, 1879-80. 203x298 mm; 8x11 3/4 inches. MacDonald's ninth state (of 9), with the drypoint lines still visible in the masts of the ship at left and the gondola still visible to the left of the ship. Signed with the butterfly and inscribed "imp" in pencil on the tab, lower left. Inscribed "oc--" in pencil, lower right verso. Strasburg Lily watermark (the same watermark is on the impressions of this subject in the Library of Congress, Washington, DC; and the Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow). A very good, luminous and well-inked impression with selective wiping which produces a "glow" outward from the horizon.
According to MacDonald, there are some 60 known impressions of Nocturne, most of which are in the ninth state. This appears to be a particularly richly-inked and dark impression in this state, compared to other impressions illustrated on The Whistler Etchings Project, University of Glasgow, website. Kennedy 184; Glasgow 222.
