James Abbott McNeill Whistler American, 1834-1903 The Workshop Ajaccio, 1901 American, 1834-1903 The Workshop Ajaccio, 1901 Signed with butterfly insignia (cr) Graphite pencil on paper 5 7/8 x 3 7/8 inches Provenance: The artist Bequeathed to his sister-in-law Rosalind Birnie Philip, London, 1903 P. & D. Colnaghi, London, Jun. 25, 1955 Private collection, London, 1956 By descent in the family Literature: M.F. MacInness, "Whistler's Last Years, Spring 1901, Algiers and Corsica," Gazette des Beaux Arts 73 (1969), 323-42, no. 41, Fig. 10. Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler Drawings, Pastels and Watercolors, A Catalogue Raisonne (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995), 604 illus., no. 1682 Carol Lowrey and Lisa N. Peters, Works on Paper, exh. cat. (New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2008), 20-21 color illus., no. 8 In London in mid-November of 1900, Whistler developed a mysterious illness. When he did not recover in the following month, he was ordered to take a sea voyage, and he departed with his brother-in-law, Ronald Murray Philip, on a sojourn that encompassed a stay in Gibralter, and Christmas and New Years in Algiers and Tangiers. Finding these cities "entirely too Eastern," he retreated to Marseilles, where he failed to recover. In February he and Philip went to Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica. Philip left in the middle of the month, his place at Whistler's side replaced by William Heinemann and another friend who remained with the artist for two weeks in March. Whistler stayed on through the end of April, when he departed Corsica via Marseilles for London. Despite his illness, Whistler filled two sketchbooks during his stay in Ajaccio, from which this view of the doorway of a workshop is taken. The work was in the artist's studio on his death in 1903 and was bequeathed by him to his sister in law Rosalind Birnie Philip. Doorways, a theme in Whistler's art since the beginning of his career, were the focus of his attention during his Corsican visit (See Macdonald, 602-606). He was drawn to this subject as a way of using the tectonic aspect of architectural forms as a way of structuring the placement of figures in his scenes. In The Workshop Ajaccio, the shadowed doorway silhouettes the figure of a woman, indicated by Whistler with the untouched white of his paper support, while he rendered a sketchy figure just outside the grid of the facade. Whistler applied soft pencil lines broadly for the shadows, while rendering the head of the figure in the doorway with a finer, more silvery rubbing. The drawing relates closely to Shop, Ajaccio (Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow), which like The Workshop Ajaccio portrays another shop front in which figures are positioned in relation to shadowy open doorways. C The Spanierman Gallery, LLC
Toned. Tiny stain in the lower right. Laid down to the back mounting
James Abbott McNeill Whistler American, 1834-1903 The Workshop Ajaccio, 1901 American, 1834-1903 The Workshop Ajaccio, 1901 Signed with butterfly insignia (cr) Graphite pencil on paper 5 7/8 x 3 7/8 inches Provenance: The artist Bequeathed to his sister-in-law Rosalind Birnie Philip, London, 1903 P. & D. Colnaghi, London, Jun. 25, 1955 Private collection, London, 1956 By descent in the family Literature: M.F. MacInness, "Whistler's Last Years, Spring 1901, Algiers and Corsica," Gazette des Beaux Arts 73 (1969), 323-42, no. 41, Fig. 10. Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler Drawings, Pastels and Watercolors, A Catalogue Raisonne (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995), 604 illus., no. 1682 Carol Lowrey and Lisa N. Peters, Works on Paper, exh. cat. (New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2008), 20-21 color illus., no. 8 In London in mid-November of 1900, Whistler developed a mysterious illness. When he did not recover in the following month, he was ordered to take a sea voyage, and he departed with his brother-in-law, Ronald Murray Philip, on a sojourn that encompassed a stay in Gibralter, and Christmas and New Years in Algiers and Tangiers. Finding these cities "entirely too Eastern," he retreated to Marseilles, where he failed to recover. In February he and Philip went to Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica. Philip left in the middle of the month, his place at Whistler's side replaced by William Heinemann and another friend who remained with the artist for two weeks in March. Whistler stayed on through the end of April, when he departed Corsica via Marseilles for London. Despite his illness, Whistler filled two sketchbooks during his stay in Ajaccio, from which this view of the doorway of a workshop is taken. The work was in the artist's studio on his death in 1903 and was bequeathed by him to his sister in law Rosalind Birnie Philip. Doorways, a theme in Whistler's art since the beginning of his career, were the focus of his attention during his Corsican visit (See Macdonald, 602-606). He was drawn to this subject as a way of using the tectonic aspect of architectural forms as a way of structuring the placement of figures in his scenes. In The Workshop Ajaccio, the shadowed doorway silhouettes the figure of a woman, indicated by Whistler with the untouched white of his paper support, while he rendered a sketchy figure just outside the grid of the facade. Whistler applied soft pencil lines broadly for the shadows, while rendering the head of the figure in the doorway with a finer, more silvery rubbing. The drawing relates closely to Shop, Ajaccio (Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow), which like The Workshop Ajaccio portrays another shop front in which figures are positioned in relation to shadowy open doorways. C The Spanierman Gallery, LLC
Toned. Tiny stain in the lower right. Laid down to the back mounting
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.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
.jpg "Quelle: Christie's")
