Howard Guild collection of Whistler prints come to Leland Little March 22

'Whistler with the White Lock' by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, dating to 1876-79 and estimated at $50-$25,000 at Leland Little.

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — Whistler prints from the famed collection of Howard R. Guild, Sr. (1867-1944) will be offered at Leland Little on Friday, March 22. The nine works on paper, including some very rare impressions, come by family descent. The complete catalog is available for viewing and bidding now at LiveAuctioneers.

James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) produced close to 500 etchings, lithographs, and drypoints — many of them carrying his famous butterfly signature. The medium offered him the opportunity to sketch ideas quickly, then slowly refine and develop them through multiple states, creating variations with expressive inking.

During the first half of the 20th century, Whistler collecting was at its zenith. Howard Guild, a Harvard graduate who made his fortune as a paper and twine merchant, was among the keenest adherents, amassing the largest private collection of Whistler prints in the United States. Many were donated by his family to the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College in the 1990s.

Among the prints in the North Carolina sale is a copy of the last of Whistler’s etched self-portraits — sometimes called Whistler with the White Lock. Dated circa 1876-1879, it shows the artist with his characteristic white lock of hair: a genetic trait, the result of Waardenburg Syndrome, which both Whistler and his sister shared. Like every lot in the March 22 Fine Art Auction, it is assigned the broad estimate range of $50-$25,000. However, previous copies have sold for $1,500-$3,000 at auction.

The etching and drypoint Tatting, dating from 1873, is a particularly scarce print: only a handful have been offered at auction since 2000. Part of a group of informal female portraits of 1873 (all of them private studies, possibly for projected paintings) the sitter is Maude Franklin, Whistler’s new model and mistress.

Nursemaid and Child is a much earlier work and one of approximately 35 impressions of this second state etching and drypoint published in 1859. This copy has collectors’ stamps to the verso for Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, a native of Boston who was friends with the great print enthusiast Francis Bullard.

'Tatting,' an 1873 etching and drypoint by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, estimated at $50-$25,000 at Leland Little.

'Tatting,' an 1873 etching and drypoint by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, estimated at $50-$25,000 at Leland Little.

'Nursemaid and Child,' an 1859 etching and drypoint by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, estimated at $50-$25,000 at Leland Little.

'Nursemaid and Child,' an 1859 etching and drypoint by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, estimated at $50-$25,000 at Leland Little.

'Whistler with the White Lock' by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, dating to 1876-79 and estimated at $50-$25,000 at Leland Little.

'Whistler with the White Lock' by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, dating to 1876-79 and estimated at $50-$25,000 at Leland Little.

Jim Bunte

Jim Bunte

Jim Bunte has worked in editorial, design and the toy and auction industries for more than 30 years. He co-founded Auction Central News in 2007.

Whistler’s mother portrait returns to Philly after 142 years for special show

James Abbott McNeill Whistler, ‘Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother,’ 1871. Oil on canvas, RMN-Grand Palais, Art Resource NY. Image courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, ‘Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist's Mother,’ 1871. Oil on canvas, RMN-Grand Palais, Art Resource NY. Image courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, ‘Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist’s Mother,’ 1871. Oil on canvas, RMN-Grand Palais, Art Resource NY. Image courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia Museum of Art celebrates an exceptional loan from the Musee d’Orsay, Paris of Whistler’s 1871 portrait of his mother in a new exhibition that explores the portrait’s creation and its legacy in the city of Philadelphia. James Abbott McNeill Whistler’s iconic portrayal of his mother, Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Artist’s Mother, will be on view in Philadelphia for the first time in 142 years. This exhibition, The Artist’s Mother: Whistler and Philadelphia, will bring Whistler’s portrait into dialog with works by artists associated with Philadelphia — Cecilia Beaux, Henry Ossawa Tanner, John Sloan, Dox Thrash, Alice Neel and Sidney Goodman. The show opens on June 10 and continues through October 29.

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Woman in White featured in National Gallery’s Whistler exhibit

 

James McNeill Whistler, ‘Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl,’ 1864. Oil on canvas. Overall: 76.5 by 51.1cm (30 1/8 by 20 1/8in), framed: 108.5 by 83 by 11.8cm (42 11/16 by 32 11/16 by 4 5/8 in). Tate, London, bequeathed by Arthur Studd 1919. © Tate, London 2017
James McNeill Whistler, ‘Symphony in White, No. 2: The Little White Girl,’ 1864. Oil on canvas. Overall: 76.5 by 51.1cm (30 1/8 by 20 1/8in), framed: 108.5 by 83 by 11.8cm (42 11/16 by 32 11/16 by 4 5/8 in). Tate, London, bequeathed by Arthur Studd 1919. © Tate, London 2017

WASHINGTON, DC — When James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) and Joanna Hiffernan (1839–1886) met in 1860, they began a close professional and personal relationship that lasted for more than two decades. Featuring some 60 works including paintings, drawing and prints, The Woman in White: Joanna Hiffernan and James McNeill Whistler explores their partnership and the iconic works of art arising from their collaboration. Bringing together nearly every known depiction of Hiffernan, as well as relevant documents and letters, this exhibition explores who Hiffernan was, her partnership with Whistler, and her role in the creative process. The Woman in White is on view at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., from July 3 through October 10 in its East Building.

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