Clothes-Exchange, Houndsditch, No.2

Object Details

Label

Whistler’s interior view of an iron and glass building located in Houndsditch, part of London’s East End, pictures the lively trade in secondhand, cast-off, and pawned clothing. Wholesale and retail purchasers included not only shopkeepers but also artisans, clerks, and even gentlemen. In August 1877, a reporter spotted Whistler “sketching the picturesque corners of ‘Cloth Fair,’” adding, “the artist has an eye for business . . . and ‘slumming’ is a pursuit much indulged in by the élite of society.”

Whistler etchings are identified by "G" numbers as assigned in "James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonn&‌eacute;," by Margaret F. McDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock (University of Glasgow, 2012), http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk. This print is G359 state 1 of 3.

Provenance

To 1889

Frederick Keppel and Co., London, England, and New York to 1889 [1]

From 1889 to 1919

Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Frederick Keppel and Co. in 1889 [2]

From 1920

Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Whistler List, Etchings, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[2] See note 1.

[3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

Collection

Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Exhibition History

Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change (November 18, 2023 to May 4, 2024)

Special Exhibition, Whistler Etchings and Lithographs (January 14, 1924 to February 18, 1924)

Previous custodian or owner

Frederick Keppel and Co. (1868-1940) (C.L. Freer source)

Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Credit Line

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Data Source

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Date

ca. 1886-1888

Accession Number

F1889.4

Artist

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Print

Medium

Etching; ink on paper

Dimensions

H x W (overall): 22.9 x 15.2 cm (9 x 6 in)

Origin

United States

Related Online Resources

Google Cultural Institute

See more items in

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection

Topic

etching (printing process)

United States

American Art

store front

city

Charles Lang Freer collection

Record ID

fsg_F1889.4

Usage

Not determined

GUID

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye361bc1ed7-5c22-4add-a9ee-8c8cae8bdd6a