The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

May 18th, 1855 is dated 'May. 18th' on the drawing, with the addition of the year, '55', in another hand.

It was given to Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878).

May 18th, 1855, Metropolitan Museum of Art

It is fully catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 208).

Images

Subject

Description

May 18th, 1855, Metropolitan Museum of Art

It shows a man smoking while sitting on and beating a big drum. It may be a representation of events occurring during the Kansas elections, when there were allegations of ballot rigging in attempts to ensure that Kansas did not elect pro-slavery delegates.

Technique

Technique

May 18th, 1855, Metropolitan Museum of Art

See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 208).

Conservation History

Numerous drawings were stuck by the Winans family and Whistler in an album.

History

Provenance

• 1853/1854: given to Thomas de Kay Winans (1820-1878) and family;
• 1878-1970: passed by family descent to his daughter Celeste Marguerite Winans (Mrs G. M. Hutton) (1855-1925), her daughter Lucette Marguerite Hutton, Mrs H. A. Prichard (1885-1957), and grand-daughters, Margaret Celeste Prichard, Mrs T. A. Buell (1908-1970), Helen Lucette Prichard, Mrs J. M. King (1913-2005), and Sybil Agnes Prichard, Mrs E. G. Walk (1915-2009);
• 1970: piven by Margaret C. Buell, Helen L. King, and Sybil A. Walk to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Exhibitions

Not, as far as is known, 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. 208) as 'May 18th, 1855'.

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.

Websites

• Metropolitan Museum of Art website.