A Confrontation

Details

JAMES MCNEILL WHISTLER (1834-1903)
A Confrontation
signed 'J Whistler/Club Sketch' (lower right)
watercolor and gouache on paper
8 ¾ x 5 ¾ in. (22.2 x 14.6 cm.)
Executed circa 1853-54.

Provenance

The artist.
Alexander S. Webb, New York, acquired from the above.
Private collection, New York.
Doyle, New York, 8 May 2013, sold by the above.
Thomas Colville Fine Art, LLC, New York.
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 2013.

Further details

A letter from Margaret F. MacDonald, recognized authority on James McNeill Whistler, accompanies this lot.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

According to Whistler expert Margaret F. MacDonald, the present work "is undoubtedly by Whistler, dating from his brief training under Weir at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but not actually done during classes...there was some sort of sketching club involved...[The subject was likely] inspired by the dramatic, romantic books of [Victor] Hugo or [Alexandre] Dumas." (unpublished letter, 2013)

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