Sep 20, 2012 - Sale 2286

Sale 2286 - Lot 49

Price Realized: $ 1,440
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
JAMES A. M. WHISTLER
Whistler with the White Lock.

Etching and drypoint on cream laid paper, 1879. 119x80 mm; 4 5/8x3 1/8 inches, small margins. Van Gelder script watermark. Likely from the set of "cancelled" plates issued by The Fine Art Society, London, 1879, in an edition of approximately 20, though according to MacDonald, this is evidently the only plate in the set that was not actually cancelled but just unfinished. A good impression of this very scarce etching with crisp, partially inky plate edges.

This is the last of 3 etched self portraits Whistler created and the only one showing his signature white lock of hair. It was published by The Fine Art Society in London shortly before his departure for Venice and on his face is perhaps a hint of the weariness brought on by the troubles of the Ruskin libel trial. Kennedy 172; MacDonald 162.