A Group of Figures around a Brazier
date: label: Date
content: 1858
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Description
content: Recto: a group of Figures around a brazier. Verso: figures in a Chariot.
label: Signatures
content: Unsigned.
label: Paper/Support
content: Off-white wove paper.
label: Label
content: In an unidentified street scene drawn from life, Whistler applied his pencil in broad, rapid strokes to capture a glimpse of modern life. A crowd presses around a brazier while a bonneted woman at the left stirs something that is heating. Typically, Whistler suppresses enough detail to make the scene ambiguous, but we may speculate that the woman is a chestnut seller. Whistler created several images of street vendors in various media. His etching of La Mere Gerard depicts an old woman who sold flowers outside the Bal Bullier in Paris (F1898.223). However, unlike the woman at the brazier, the flower seller is isolated, removed from any contextual reference point. Comparison of the two objects illustrates Whistler's budding tendency to simplify his studio work.
label: Provenance
content: Seymour Haden (1818-1910), London [1]
label: Provenance
content: To 1898
label: Provenance
content: H. Wunderlich & Co., New York to 1898 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1898 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from H. Wunderlich & Co., through Thomas Wilmer Dewing (1851-1938), in November 1898 [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Whistler List, Haden Collection Drawings, pg. 2, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See Voucher No. 20, November 1898, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See note 2.
label: Provenance
content: [4] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and Modern Life (May 11, 1984 to December 16, 1984)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Francis Seymour Haden (1818-1910)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: H. Wunderlich & Co. (1874-1912) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: United States
topic: label: Topic
content: commerce
label: Topic
content: woman
label: Topic
content: eating
label: Topic
content: United States
label: Topic
content: American Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1898.177
objectType: label: Type
content: Drawing
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Pencil on off-white wove paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 16.5 x 10 cm (6 1/2 x 3 15/16 in)