The Guitar Player

1875

James McNeill Whistler

Associated Names
James McNeill Whistler

Artist, American, 1834 - 1903

The image shows a sketch of a man's body from the torso up, holding a guitar. The man's facial features are subtly drawn, including a bearded face, eyes, nose, and mouth. His hair is short and slightly tousled. He is wearing loose-fitting clothing that suggests a suit or jacket over a shirt. The background features a textured pattern of lines and there is a small emblem in the bottom right corner of the image.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    drypoint on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.8474

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Kennedy 1910, no. 140, iii/v

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly W. Dowdeswell, London (see Lugt 799). (H. Wunderlich & Co., New York, stock no. a 65709).( Knoedler & Co., New York, stock no. 13684 MK). Lessing Julius Rosenwald [1891-1971], Philadelphia, (Lugt 1760b); gift to NGA, 1943.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1931

  • Etchings, Lithographs, Original Drawings, and Autograph Letters by James A. McNeill Whistler, The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1931.

1946

  • Music in Prints: Prints from the Rosenwald Collection, NGA, 1946, no cat.

1953

  • Whistler's Prints after Fifty Years, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1953.

1967

  • Musical Prints from the Fifteenth to the Twentieth Century, from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, NGA, 1967, no cat.

1968

  • L'Incisione Europea dal XV al XX Secolo, Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Turin, Italy, 1968. no. 254.

1969

  • The Prints of James McNeill Whistler, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Artmobile, 1969-1970.

Bibliography

1910

  • Kennedy, Edward G. The Etched Work of Whistler. New York: Grolier Club, 1910, no. 140, iii/v.

2012

  • MacDonald, Margaret F., Grischka Petri, Joanna Meacock.James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné. University of Glasgow on-line website at http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk. University of Glasgow, 2012: no. 124, state iv/vii.

Inscriptions

on plate: (butterfly); on recto lower right: 3; lower left on the recto: 8; lower left on the verso: Portrait of W Ridley the painter; at lower centre on the verso: 6 / mxxx-

Wikidata ID

Q65021891

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