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James Abbott McNeill WhistlerBridge, Amsterdam1889
1889
About the Item
James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903), Bridge, Amsterdam, etching, 1889, printed in brown ink on thin laid paper, signed with the butterfly on the tab and annotated “imp”, also signed with the butterfly on the verso and numbered 11. References: Kennedy 409, Glasgow 447, fifth state (of 5). In very good condition (slight nicks at edges), trimmed by the artist on the plate mark apart from the tab, 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches.
Provenance:
Vivian and Meyer P. Potamkin, Philadelphia;
sale, Sotheby’s, New York, May 11, 1989, lot 302
Samuel Josefowitz, Pully, Switzerland
A very fine, shimmering impression of this great rarity.
This impression is included in the Glasgow inventory, ID number K4090301; only about 11 lifetime impressions in all states are known (three were also printed posthumously by Nathaniel Sparks).
Although the structure of the composition was established in the first state, Whistler’s re-working of the plate through all five states, with the addition of myriad lines, shading, cross-hatching in both etching and drypoint, results in a radically altered look: the final state is a darker, more dramatic, indeed even stormier rendering of what in the first state appeared to be a relatively placid scene. Interestingly, Whistler left much of the area in the upper right corner of the composition unfinished, so that the bridge remains unattached – of course he would argue that this furthers the aesthetic intent, and of course he’s right.
- Creator:James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903, American)
- Creation Year:1889
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:New York, NY
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU51531775013
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American artist active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. Whistler was born on July 11, 1834, in Lowell. During his formative years in Paris in the 1850s, Whistler was influenced by the injunctions of the poet and theorist Charles Baudelaire that artists should take subjects from modern life and seek a new beauty in the teeming cities. Whistler's first major suite of prints, his French Set brought critical acclaim but disappointing sales. Seeking more generous patrons, he moved to London in 1859. Initially, under the influence of his brother-in-law Francis Seymour Haden, a pioneer of the etching revival, he began a series of superbly observed and finely detailed views of the River Thames with its shipping, thriving wharves and picturesque characters. In his Thames Set etchings, Whistler often introduced the figures of workmen, boatmen or loungers in the foregrounds. Whistler died on July 17, 1903, in London.
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