The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

Gendarme dates from 1855. It was given by Whistler to a fellow-draughtsman at the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in Washington DC, John Ross Key (1837-1920).

Gendarme, Art Institute Of Chicago

It is catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 201).

Images

Subject

Sitter

Gendarme, Art Institute Of Chicago

This may have been based on an illustration from a book showing various uniforms, military and civilian. The man is wearing a caped three-quarter length coat, long boots with spurs, wide gauntlets, and a tall helmet, and carries a sabre: presumably the uniform of a mounted officer, possibly in the royal guard.

Technique

Technique

Gendarme, Art Institute Of Chicago

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 201), and Clarke, Jay A., and Sarah Kelly Oehler, eds., Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, website (cat. no. 3).

History

Provenance

• 1855: given by Whistler to a fellow-draughtsman at the US Coast and Geodetic Survey in Washington DC, John Ross Key (1837-1920);
• 1896: possibly sold by Key to Frederick Keppel (1845-1912), New York dealer;
• 1906: Keppel and Edward Guthrie Kennedy (1849-1932), New York dealer, showed several drawings, possibly including this, to Joseph Pennell (1860-1926).
• 1927: bequeathed by Charles Deering (1852-1927) to the Art Institute of Chicago.

For further details, see MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 201).

Exhibitions

• 1896: Frederick Keppel, Chicago, 1896 (no cat. no.).

It was reproduced in the Chicago Times Herald, 8 March 1896, p. 30.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 201) as 'Gendarme'.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• Frederick Keppel, Chicago, 1896 (no cat. no.).

Newspapers 1855-1905

• Chicago Times Herald, 8 March 1896, repr. p. 30.

Books on Whistler

• Pennell, Elizabeth Robins, and Joseph Pennell, The Life of James McNeill Whistler, 2 vols, London and Philadelphia, 1908, vol. 1, p. 46.

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, at p. 153, no. 74.

Websites

• Clarke, Jay A., and Sarah Kelly Oehler, eds., Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, website.
• Strother, Stephanie L., 'Early Drawings (Cats. 1–5)' in Whistler Paintings and Drawings at the Art Institute of Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2020, URL (cat. no. 3).