The Bathers F1902.172a-c: Curatorial Analysis | Whistler in Watercolor

Maker nationality and date: 1834-1903

Date(s): 1882-1883

Medium: Watercolor on paper

Dimension(s): H x W: 25.3 x 17.7 cm (9 15/16 x 6 15/16 in)

Credit Line: Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Object Number: F1902.172a-c

Production location: England, Southend-on-Sea

Theme: Seascape

Signature(s): Unsigned.

Provenance: To 1902
Henry Studdy Theobald (1847-1934), London, to 1902 [1]

From 1902 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Henry Studdy Theobald in 1902 [2]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Whistler List, Purchases from Thoebald, pg. 8, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. See also, Voucher No. 1, August 1902, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

[2] See note 1.

[3] 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.

Exhibition History: Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell, "Notes"—"Harmonies"—"Nocturnes", May 1884
Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell, "Notes"—"Harmonies"—"Nocturnes", May 1886

Selected Curatorial Remarks: 1. Glazer, Jacobson, McCarthy, Roeder, wall label, 2019:
While traditional landscapes held little interest for Whistler, he claimed, "The sea to me, is, and always was, most fascinating!" Rendered with simplicity, his seascapes of Southend, a popular seaside destination south of London, rely on broad washes of color with sparse detail. Whistler was a master at creating a mixture of pigments that produced a tonally balanced palette. His seascapes were often organized in a three-part composition of sky, sea, and shore.
2. Katherine Roeder, 2018:
Changed date from 1883/84 to 1882-1883. Southend scenes were painted after JMW's supply purchase in fall of 1881, and prior to the spring Dowdeswell Gallery exhibition of 1884. This scene depicts people in a bathing machine in the water, and therefore likely dates to the summer of 1882 or 1883.

Selected Published References: 1. Curry: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, Pg. 182
If the scale of this watercolor is small, its ostensible subject is tiny. Whistler painted an expanse of empty sand as a prelude to miniscule dots which, despite their size, easily can be read as figures in the shallow water. Two bathing machines, wagons in which swimmers of the Victorian era entered the ocean, stand near the figures. Two boats with sails furled act as parentheses around the bathers.

Catalogue Raisonne number: M888
MacDonald Catalogue number

Previous owner(s): Henry Studdy Theobald (C.L. Freer source) (1847-1934)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

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