James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Chelsea Rags
1888

Name: Chelsea Rags
Brand: James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Price: 6750 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Chelsea Rags. Chelsea Rags. 1888. Lithograph. Way 22, Levy 35, Tedeschi, Stratis and Spink 26. 7 1/8 x 6 5/16 (sheet 12 3/4 x 8). Printed on cream laid paper. Provenance: Miss Rosalind Birnie Philip, Whistler's sister-in-law, her seal verso: (Lugt 405). Michael Parkin Fine Art, Ltd. from whom purchased in 1972. Christie's, King Street.Signed with the butterfly in the image. One of 13 impressions listed by Way, before the image was transferred to supplementary stones for the edition of 500-1,000 printed by Way and issued in the Albemarle, January, 1892. Signed with the butterfly in the stone and in pencil. Housed in an elegant silk mat with a silver liner, and in a 16 3/4 x 14 3/4-inch silver leaf frame decorated with fleur-de-lis decorations. "And his interest in London has not been restricted to the Thames. Seeing the beautiful, where other men might be discouraged by dullness, he has taken his subject, now in the little cheap shop opening a low window upon the street, now in the forgotten church hidden away in a lonely square. And Chelsea Rags, the Shops of Chelsea, the Drury Lane, as well as The Butcher's Dog, are impressions of vague Rembrandtesque interiors where figures, grim or graceful, peer from out deep shadowsâ€” shops as lovely in his prints as the halls of a Veronese, or the palaces of a Claude." Elizabeth Robins Pennell, Whistler, the Master of the Lithograph. During his first stay in Paris in the 1850s, Whistler spent ours in the Louvre, learning and copying from the great masterpieces. Years later he was able to recreate the vast expanse of this exhibition hall and to capture visitors at their various activities. One of the most significant figures in American art and a forerunner of the Post-Impressionist movement, James Whistler is celebrated for his innovative painting style and eccentric personality. He was bold and self-assured, and quickly developed a reputation for his verbal and legal retaliations against art critics, dealers, and artists who insulted his work. His paintings, etchings, lithographs and pastels epitomize the modern penchant for creating "art for art's sake," an axiom celebrated by Whistler and others in the Aesthetic movement. They also represent one of the earliest shifts from traditional representational art to abstraction that is at the heart of much of modern art.

Creator:

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903, American)

Creation Year:

1888

Dimensions:

Height: 16.74 in (42.52 cm)Width: 14.75 in (37.47 cm)Depth: 1.5 in (3.81 cm)

Medium:

Lithograph

Movement & Style:

American Modern

Period:

Late 19th Century