The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

r.: and v.: Eagle may have been drawn at Buffalo Bill's 'Wild West Show' at the 'American Exhibition', held during Queen Victoria's Jubilee. The exhibition opened on 9 May and closed on 31 October.

Eagle, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

v: Eagle, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

The drawings are catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1147).

Images

Subject

Sitter

An eagle, possibly in Buffalo Bill's 'Wild West Show' or at the London zoo.

Technique

Composition

Eagle, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

v: Eagle, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

Whistler may have drawn the eagle before etching a similar subject, Black Eagle [439], possibly in the menagerie that arrived in London in April 1887 for Buffalo Bill's 'Wild West Show' at the 'American Exhibition', held during Queen Victoria's Jubilee. The exhibition opened on 9 May and closed on 31 October.

Technique

The paper is discoloured and stained. The drawing was torn in half by the artist and crudely repaired, possibly by Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913).

History

Provenance

• 1887: acquired by Thomas Robert Way (1861-1913), London;
• Date unknown: acquired from Way or his widow, Amy Ellen Cox, Mrs T. R. Way (1865-1949), by Pickford Robert Waller (1849-1930);
• 1930: bequeathed to his daughter Sybil Christina Waller (1882-1973);
• 1965: sold at auction, London, Christie's, 12 November 1965 (lot 31).
• 1969: bought by the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute.

Exhibitions

There is no record of any exhibition.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• MacDonald, Margaret F., James McNeill Whistler. Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours. A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1995 (cat. no. 1147).

Catalogues 1906-Present

• Christie's, 12 November 1965 (lot 31).

Websites

• Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock, James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow, 2012, online website (cat. no. 439).