Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

 

The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris

Titles

Whistler's original title is not known. Only one title has been suggested:

  • 'The Greengrocer's Shop – Paris' (1936, Glasgow University). 1
  • 'The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris' (1980, YMSM). 2

The punctuation was changed to conform with other titles: 'The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris' is therefore the generally accepted title.

Description


                    The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris, The Hunterian
The Greengrocer's Shop, Paris, The Hunterian

The ground floor frontage of a shop fills the horizontal panel. In the centre is an open window with small panes, and a glimpse of goods within. On the windowsill and on a low bench in front of it are bowls, baskets, and small piles of fruit and vegetables. Two bunches – possibly of herbs – hang to right of the window, and beyond them, at right, is a dark open doorway. At far right, a woman is standing with hands on hips. The colours are restricted to browns and ochres.

Site

A small shop, said to be in Paris, though it could easily have been in London or a smaller town: this is a very small-scale business, with no more goods for sale than a market stall.

The theme of shopfronts and streetscapes recurs in Whistler's work throughout the 1880s and 1890s.

Notes:

1: James McNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1936 (cat. no. 3).

2: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 372).

Last updated: 22nd October 2020 by Margaret