拍品专文
This impression cited and illustrated by Kennedy.
The following lot and eighteen subsequent Whistler lots have been consigned by descendants of the Connecticut industrialist, Harris Whittemore. At the turn of the century Whittemore formed one of the most impressive American collections of paintings and prints by Whistler, Cassatt and the Impressionists. Today, most of these works have found their way into museums or the collections of other private individuals around the world.
Harris Whittemore met several of the above mentioned artists during travels to Europe and gradually acquired many of his paintings directly from them or their dealers while abroad. By contrast, he purchased close to six hundred Whistler prints--nearly his entire collection--during a single transaction negotiated in New York City in 1919. The wisdom of this purchase at a reported cost of $350,000 can be explained by the fact that Whittemore was acquiring the etchings and lithographs from Howard Mansfield.
A lawyer by profession, Mansfield had a passion for prints by Whistler and spent forty years building an outstanding collection of them. Along the way he became friends with the expatriate American artist, acquired some of his finest impressions using Whistler's direct advice and, in 1909, completed the first descriptive catalogue raisonné of the artist's etchings to be published in America. Fritz Lugt refers to Mansfield's Whistler collection as "l'une des meilleures qui soient, et qui peut être classée la deuxième ou la troisième du monde."
The majority of the following Mansfield/Whittemore lots have not been framed or exhibited in over forty years. As a result, the quality of the impressions and their rarity is matched by their generally excellent condition. Several of the etchings are annotated by Whistler to indicate their high quality, their state or their selection for Howard Mansfield. Sunflowers, Rue des Beaux-Arts (Lot 214) is so extensively touched in ink that it is as much a drawing as it is a print. Six of the impressions are those cited and illustrated by Edward G. Kennedy in his catalogue raisonné of 1910.
Property from the
HARRIS WHITTEMORE JR. TRUST
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER
细节
JAMES McNEILL WHISTLER
Riault, the Engraver (M. 65; K. 65)
drypoint, 1860, on laid paper, a very fine, rich impression of this rare print, the lines rich with burr, first state (of three), with full margins, various old creases with attendant skillfully repaired splits showing only in the margins, slight staining, soiling and an old pencil inscription in the margins, otherwise in good condition
P. 9 x 5 7/8in. (229 x 149mm.)
S. 13 x 8 7/8in. (330 x 225mm.)
Riault, the Engraver (M. 65; K. 65)
drypoint, 1860, on laid paper, a very fine, rich impression of this rare print, the lines rich with burr, first state (of three), with full margins, various old creases with attendant skillfully repaired splits showing only in the margins, slight staining, soiling and an old pencil inscription in the margins, otherwise in good condition
P. 9 x 5 7/8in. (229 x 149mm.)
S. 13 x 8 7/8in. (330 x 225mm.)
来源
Howard Mansfield (L. 1342)
Harris Whittemore (L. 1384a)
Harris Whittemore (L. 1384a)