Mother and Child, No. 1

1891/1895 (printed 1904)

James McNeill Whistler

Associated Names
James McNeill Whistler

Artist, American, 1834 - 1903

Frederick Goulding

Printer, British, 1842 - 1909

In this sketch, a woman is seated in a slightly reclined position, holding a child on her lap. The woman's features are softly drawn, with her head tilted towards the child. She wears a headdress and a long gown or dress. The child is unclothed and nestled against the woman, with an arm around her neck. The background is minimally detailed, showing abstract outlines of possible furniture.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    lithograph in black on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Corcoran Collection (Bequest of Frank B. Bristow)

  • Dimensions

    image (irregular): 18.42 × 19.37 cm (7 1/4 × 7 5/8 in.)
    sheet: 31.12 × 20.96 cm (12 1/4 × 8 1/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2015.19.1490

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Stratis & Tedeschi 1998, no. 51, ii/ii

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Rosalind Birnie Philip (the artist's sister-in-law), London, England; Frank B. Bristow, Falls Church, Virginia; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1968; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1979

  • British Prints from the Bristow Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1979

1982

  • American Impressionist Prints, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1982, no. 29

1983

  • Sargent's Contemporaries, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1983, no. 30

1990

  • Haden, Whistler, Pennell: Three Master Printmakers in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1990, no. 53

2002

  • The Gilded Cage: Views of American Women, 1873-1921, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2002

2003

  • The Impressionist Tradition in America, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2003-2004

Bibliography

1896

  • Way, Thomas Robert. Mr. Whistler's Lithographs: The Catalogue. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1896; New York: H. Wunderlich & Co., 1905, no. 80.

1998

  • Stratis, Harriet K., and Martha Tedeschi, eds. The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, vol. 1. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1998, pp. 185-188, no. 51, ii/ii.

Inscriptions

upper left on stone: [the artist's butterfly]; lower left edge in graphite by unknown hand: W80 / MK 32882; lower right edge in graphite by unknown hand: C - 2887 / 4 4; lower center verso in graphite by unknown hand: DK

Markings

stamped lower verso in black ink: F.B.B. [circled]; stamped lower left verso in brown ink: [RBP monogram]

Wikidata ID

Q77013537

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