Description

This sketchbook contains 36 drawings, starting with Domburg in August 1900 (see Sea and Sand; Domburg [M.1612]), and going on to Tangier and Algiers, in December 1900. By bad luck, North Africa proved wet and cold. Whistler returned, ill, to Marseilles, and stayed there for two weeks. Eventually, in January 1901, he went on to Corsica.

p. 1: Glasses standing on a window ledge. Pen and black ink.

p. 2: (v. of 1) Inscribed ‘Mitcham - Eagle House -/ Raleigh - Iron Gates’

p.3: Domburg. Pencil, pen and black ink, signed with butterfly, inscribed ‘Domburg’. There is some pen hatching to right, unconnected with the drawing. Whistler was in Domburg in the summer of 1900. It is on an island near Middleburg and Flushing.

p. 4: (v. of 3) Woman. Pencil. The figure is full length, a rough sketch, partly rubbed out. As well as the woman, there appears to be the top of a head, unfinished; both were slightly shaded diagonally.

p. 5: Figures on a beach. Pencil. A faint drawing of a windy day by the sea.

p. 6: (v. of 5) Girl bending over a table, and a small figure. Pencil. There are two sketches of the girl at work, stretching out over the table, and a separate sketch of a small figure.

p. 7: Girl ironing. Pencil. This is the same girl as on p. 6, plus a study of her head, and several small heads.

p. 9: Man sitting in a doorway, Algiers. Pencil. Clothes are hanging up in the door and lying on the ground, and there are awnings over two doors. It was drawn over a faint, larger scale, head the other way up, and possibly a small figure as well.

p. 10 (v. of 9) Seated woman. Pencil. She is seated with her left arm straight behind her, her right hand to her chin, and the costume shows fashionable puffed sleeves and a high narrow waist. It is a faint pencil sketch, rubbed out.

p. 11: Study of Algerian Clothes. Pencil. An incomplete outline.

p. 12 (v. of 11): Illegible lines, possibly a sketch of folds. Pencil.

pp. 13-20: Removed, traces of brown ink on remnant of p.13.

p. 21: Street scene with a man riding a mule. Pencil, signed with butterfly. It shows figures walking and sitting, in a street of single storey houses, with bigger buildings and a dark sky beyond.

p. 23: Market stall. Pencil

p. 25: Part of a figure. Pencil.

p. 26 (v. of 25): Two robed men talking, Algiers. Pencil.

p. 29: Courtyard with two figures, Algiers. Pencil. Two men, one seated under a window by a door.

p. 31: Robed figure, Algiers. Pencil.

p.3 2: (v. of 31) Market in Algiers. Pencil, signed with butterfly. A vigorous, effective, sketch of figures in front of a stall.

p. 33: Robed man facing right. Pencil. An incomplete sketch.

p. 34 (v. of 33): Robed figure seen from the back. Pencil. Half length, hooded.

p. 36: Mules in front of arches, Algiers. Pencil. Three arches, figures in left arch, two mules in front.

pp. 37-8: A quickly abandoned sketch. Pencil.

p. 39: Donkey’s head. Pencil. Unfinished.

p. 40: (v. of 39) Men with donkeys, Algiers. Pencil. This could be a larger version of p. 43.

p. 41: A woman, a hooded figure and a donkey’s head. Pencil. The drawing shows a room with cupboards, an arched niche and shelves.

p. 43: Men and donkeys, Algiers. Pencil. There are more figures, on a smaller scale, but similar to those on p. 40.

pp. 45-8: removed

pp. 49-52: torn

p. 54: Girl at a table. Pencil, signed with butterfly. A sketch, possibly unfinished, of a girl with a scarf round her head, similar to pp. 6-7.

p. 56: Figures at a table. Pencil. The figures are European, but could still have been drawn in Algiers, and like several others in the book, have been partially rubbed out. The woman wears a hat and a cape.

p. 60: People on a ship. Pen and brown ink. A vivid sketch, probably done on the ship to or from Algiers, and including a piratical figure, with a patch over his eye.

p. 61: Ship's deck and rigging. Pen and brown ink. This sketch is similar to At Sea [M.1642].

p. 68: Street scene, Algiers. Pencil. A faint and unfinished drawing of figures walking under awnings, an arched window in the wall beyond, an arcade with overhanging awnings.

p. 69: Bazaar, Algiers. Pencil. The drawing is neat and expressive of movement and light. It is a busy scene, drawn in some detail, comparable to Scene in the Market, Algiers [M.1646] and Shops (Algiers) [M.1647].

p.70 (v. of 69): Figure. Pencil.

p. 71: Two women standing. Pencil. A faint drawing of a European woman with her hair arranged in a bun.

p. 72 (v. of 71): Two figures. Pencil. A robed figure standing on the left, another faint figure, possibly a woman, on the right.

p. 73: Figures. Pencil. The figures appear to have been drawn within a frame. The drawings on pp. 73-4 are upside down compared to the earlier drawings, showing that the sketchbook was used from both ends.

p. 74 (v. of 73): Figure compositions. Pencil. Three framed compositions, two showing figures at a table.

Site

Domburg, in the Netherlands. Whistler was in Domburg in the summer of 1900.

Algiers, Algeria, North Africa.

Sitter

Several figure drawings may have been done in Domburg or Marseilles.

There are a number of North African figures represented.