Group of travelers
date: label: Date
content: 1858
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Description
content: Drawing of a group of travelers, with a drawing of a man seated on a bench on the reverse.
label: Signatures
content: Unsigned.
label: Inscriptions
content: In Francis Seymore Haden's handwriting in lower right corner: "S.H."
label: Label
content: This lively character study of travelers must be part of Whistler's Rhine experience. Impersonal contact between tightly packed strangers traveling by public conveyance was a subject of much interest to both artists and writers of the period, and Whistler has been careful to suggest a general isolation of each figure. Heads are tilted at different angles, eyes are averted, backs are turned. Whistler's light underdrawing suggests the general placement of figures on a boat deck. In heavier lines Whistler redrew the features and costumes of several travelers, and he added shading as well. The gentle curve of the boat's side dictates the somewhat circular composition that has the effect of a magazine vignette.
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: 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: man
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: F1898.192
objectType: label: Type
content: Drawing
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Pencil on beige wove paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 16 x 10.4 cm (6 5/16 x 4 1/8 in)