The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler
M.1454
H. C. Pollitt
Date
H. C. Pollitt probably dates from February 1896, when Whistler arranged that Herbert Charles Jerome Pollitt (1871-1942) should come for sittings for a lithographic portrait. 1 It is very likely that it was done at the same time as the lithograph Portrait Study: Mr Herbert C. Pollitt c148.
H. C. Pollitt, Art Institute of Chicago
Portrait Study: Mr. Herbert C. Pollitt, lithograph, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
It was catalogued in MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1454).
Images
H. C. Pollitt, Art Institute of Chicago
Portrait Study: Mr. Herbert C. Pollitt, lithograph, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Subject
Sitter
H. C. Pollitt, Art Institute of Chicago
Portrait Study: Mr. Herbert C. Pollitt, lithograph, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Herbert Charles Jerome Pollitt (1871-1942). He also sat for an oil portrait Portrait of H. C. Pollitt y452.
Technique
Technique
H. C. Pollitt, Art Institute of Chicago
The crayon shows up well on the shiny papier végétal transfer paper, but the drawing was never proofed or printed. 2
Conservation History
The paper has been folded and it would seem Whistler crumpled it up and threw it away. There is a short (12 mm) tear to right of Pollitt's left foot, a slightly rough edge on the right, getting more rough towards upper right, with tears at the upper and lower right corners.
History
Provenance
- 1934: given by Bryan Lathrop (1844-1916) to the Art Institute of Chicago.
The earlier history is unknown. See MacDonald 1995 (cat. rais.) [more] (cat. no. 1454).
Exhibitions
It was 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. 1454) as 'H. C. Pollitt'.
- Spink, Nesta R., Harriet K. Stratis, and Martha Tedeschi, The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, (gen. eds, Harriet K. Stratis and Martha Tedeschi), 2 vols., Chicago, 1998, vol. 1, 'Untransferred Lithographic Drawings', pp. 512-13 (cat. no. XV) repr. p. 513.
Catalogues 1906-Present
- Bryan Lathrop Collection of Etchings and Lithographs by James McNeill Whistler, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1917 (cat. no. 377).
- American Portrait Drawings, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, 1980, pp. 80-81, repr.
- Songs on Stone: James McNeill Whistler and the Art of Lithography, Art Institute of Chicago and National Gallery of Canada, 1998–1999.
Websites
- Art Institute of Chicago website at https://www.artic.edu.
- 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. 37).
- Lithograph Portrait Study: Mr. Herbert C. Pollitt at the Freer Gallery of Art website at asia.si.edu.
Notes:
1: E. Brown to Whistler and reply, 30 January 1896, GUW #01337; Whistler to T. Way, 31 January [1896], GUW #08170.
2: See further details in Stephanie L. Strother, 'Cat. 37 H. C. Pollitt, 1896: Curatorial Entry,' in 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. 37).