The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

r.: Hussar; v.: Man with a top hat, and bandaged head dates from 1855.

r.: Hussar, Art Institute Of Chicago

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 198).

Images

Subject

Sitter

v.: Man with a top hat, and bandaged head, Art Institute Of Chicago

The figure on the verso may represent James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903).

Technique

Technique

r.: Hussar, Art Institute Of Chicago

v.: Man with a top hat, and bandaged head, Art Institute Of Chicago

The dramatic drawing on the recto is by Whistler but the drawings on the verso may be by another hand.

See Clarke, Jay A., and Sarah Kelly Oehler, eds., Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, website.

History

Provenance

• 1855: given by Whistler to a fellow-draughtsman at the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in Washington DC, John Ross Key (1837-1920);
• 1896: possibly sold by Key to Frederick Keppel (1845-1912), New York dealer;
• 1906: Keppel and Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), New York dealer, showed several drawings, possibly including this, to Joseph Pennell (1860-1926).
• Before 1916: owned by Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916).
• 1927-1934: lent by Keppel to the Art Institute of Chicago;
• 1934: bought by the Art Institute of Chicago.

There are some gaps in the known provenance; see MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 198).

Exhibitions

• 1896: Frederick Keppel, Chicago, 1896 (no cat. no.).

It was reproduced in the Chicago Times Herald, 8 March 1896, p. 30.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 198) as 'r.: Hussar; v.: Man with a top hat, and bandaged head'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Frederick Keppel, Chicago, 1896 (no cat. no.).

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Chicago Times Herald, 8 March 1896, repr. p. 30.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, p. 46.

Journals 1906-Present

• Pressly, Nancy D., 'Whistler in America: An Album of Early Drawings', Metropolitan Museum Journal, New York, vol. 5, 1972, pp. 125-54, at p. 153, no. 70.

Websites

• Clarke, Jay A., and Sarah Kelly Oehler, eds., Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, website.
• Strother, Stephanie L., 'Early Drawings (Cats. 1–5)' in Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, URL (cat. no. 5).