The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Le Débardeur dates from between 1849 and 1851, and was given to Whistler's schoolmate Edward Lawrence Hyde (1835-1917) at Christ Church Hall, Pomfret, CT.

Le Débardeur, photograph

It was partially catalogued, but not reproduced, in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 37). This entry has been revised.

Images

Subject

Sitter

Le Débardeur, Rhode Island School of Design

A sketch inspired by the series Les Débardeurs by Paul Gavarni (1804-1866). See also 'Vive les Débardeurs!!' m0133. The term means a docker or longshoreman but it was the image of a woman in trousers that struck Whistler's imagination. She wears what may be a carnival mask.

Technique

Technique

A free, bold drawing, done with a medium sized pen, probably a quill pen. Apart from the rough and repeated outlines, there is some zigzag shading on the trousers. The mask has been heavily inked.

Conservation History

It is on smooth medium-weight wove rag paper. The paper is slightly browned and soiled.

History

Provenance

• 1849/1851: given to Whistler's schoolmate Edward Lawrence Hyde (1835-1917), in Pomfret, CT;
• 1917: bequeathed to his wife Imogine Adell Hyde née Clarke (b. 1847);
• By 1924: according to her niece Mary E. Hyde, Boston, given to her sister in California.
• 1936: owned by her sisters Laura, Bessie and Lillian Hyde in California, and passed by family descent to Silvia Hyde Rhodes, then to Imogene Hyde Alexieff (1907-1995), Mrs Theodore Stephen Alexieff; and to her son Stephen Theodore Alexieff (b. 1932);
• 1994: gift of Steven P. Alexeiff in honour of Professor and Mrs Albert Simonson to Rhode Island School of Design.

Photostats of drawings owned by Edward L. Hyde were sent to Joseph Pennell (1860-1926) in 1924.

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 37) as 'Le Débardeur'.

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 (no. 11d).

Websites

• Rhode Island School of Design website at https://risdmuseum.org/art-design/collection, as 'Girl in Boy's Clothes'.