Kennedy 195. Edition unknown. Signed with the butterfly in pencil.

Image size 13 3/8 x 6 3/8 inches (340 x 162 mm).

A fine, rich impression, in dark brown ink, on cream laid paper, with the margins trimmed to the image edge, as was the artist’s custom; in excellent condition.

Collections: The National Gallery of Australia,The Jacobson Collection of American Art.

SOLD

Little Arthur- - 1857-58, Etching and Drypoint.

Kennedy 9. Edition 61, 4th state of 4. Signed in the plate, lower left. Annotated No. 20 in the top left sheet corner, in pencil. Signed in the plate, lower left.

Image size 2 5/16 x 1 15/16 inches (58 x 48 mm); sheet size 9 7/8 x 6 3/8 inches (250 x 162 mm).

A superb, finely detailed impression, in warm black ink, on antique off-white laid paper, with full margins (2 to 4 7/8 inches); in excellent condition. Printed by Auguste Delâtre, Paris.

This work is included in Whistler's first set of 13 published etchings dating from 1857 and 1858, entitled 'Douze eau-fortes d'apres Nature' ('Twelve Etchings from Nature'), known as the 'French Set'. On one impression Whistler identified the boy as Arthur Haden–Arthur Charles Haden was the younger son of Whistler's half-sister Deborah Delano Haden and Francis Seymour Haden, Sr. This is one of a series of portraits of their children by Whistler which includes Seymour, Standing; Annie Haden with Books, and Annie.

Collections: Art Gallery of New South Wales; Baltimore Museum of Art; Bowdoin College Museum of Art; British Museum; Carnegie Museum of Art; Colby College Museum of Art; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Grace Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art; National Gallery of Australia; Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago; University of Iowa Museum of Art.

SOLD

En Plein Soleil from the 'French Set' (Douze eau-fortes d'apres Nature)- - 1858, Etching.

Kennedy 15. Edition 44 known impressions, 3rd state of 3. Signed in the plate, lower left, and a faint Whistler with 's' reversed, upper left corner. Annotated in the plate, lower right, Imp. Delatre. Rue St. Jacques. 171. ('J' reversed).

Image size 3 15/16 x 5 15/16 inches (101 x 135 mm); sheet size 5 1/4 x 6 3/8 inches (133 x 162 mm).

A superb, finely detailed impression, in warm black ink, on antique cream laid paper, with margins (1/2 to 7/8 inch); a small spot of toning to the right of the umbrella, otherwise in very good condition. An early impression, before the clipping of the plate corners, with the upside down signature in the plate upper left and the diagonal scratch through the clouds at right, distinct, and with very strong contrasts, no sign of wear and the patch of foul-biting lower left prominent. Printed by Auguste Delâtre, Paris.

Whistler probably captured this image of a grisette, or working girl holding a parasol, in the countryside near Paris (the title translates to ("In Full Sun"). Realist and naturalist ideas circulating among artists in France influenced his unsentimental and unidealized approach. The artist made the etching in the summer of 1858 before setting out in mid-August to tour the Rhineland. In November, it was included in "Douze eau-fortes d'apres Nature" ("Twelve etchings from Nature"), known as the "French Set".

As part of a published set, this became a fairly well-known print. It was first shown in an exhibition of the work of contemporary artists at The Hague in 1863. An impression was shown in Whistler's one-man show in London in 1874, and was praised by the critic of The Builder. Another impression toured with the collection of James Anderson Rose (1819-1890) to Liverpool and elsewhere in the same year. It was seen in public exhibitions, such as in Philadelphia in 1879, and in private clubs, for the connoisseur. Impressions were also seen in the Memorial Exhibitions after Whistler's death: at the Groller Club in New York in 1904 and in Paris in 1905. King Edward VII lent a French Set including En Plein Soleil to the London Memorial Exhibition in 1905.

Collections: Art Institute of Chicago; Cleveland Art Museum; Davis Museum (Wellesley College); Detroit Institute of Arts Museum; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Harvard Art Museums; Library of Congress; Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of New-Zealand; National Gallery of Art; Oklahoma City Museum of Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art; Tel Aviv Museum of Art; University of Cambridge Museums; University of Glasgow Art Museum; Victoria and Albert Museum (London).

SOLD