The 'Adam and Eve', Old Chelsea

Object Details

Edition/State

2, 1

Label

The Adam and Eve was a local riverside pub in London, demolished to make way for the Chelsea Embankment, which opened in May 1874. Four years after the picturesque building was destroyed, Whistler looked backward, relying chiefly on photographs to reconstruct a detailed and commercially appealing image complete with a tiny mud lark, a scavenger searching for salable junk on the river bottom at low tide.

Whistler etchings are identified by "G" numbers as assigned in "James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonn&‌eacute;," by Margaret F. McDonald, Grischka Petri, Meg Hausberg, and Joanna Meacock (University of Glasgow, 2012), http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk. This print is G182 state 3 of 3.

Provenance

To 1893

Frederick Keppel and Co., London, England, and New York to 1893 [1]

From 1893 to 1919

Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Frederick Keppel and Co. in 1893 [2]

From 1920

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

Notes:

[1] See Original Whistler List, Etchings, 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.

Collection

Freer Gallery of Art Collection

Exhibition History

Whistler: Streetscapes, Urban Change (November 18, 2023 to May 4, 2024)

An American in London: Whistler and the Thames (May 3 to August 17, 2014)

Previous custodian or owner

Frederick Keppel and Co. (1868-1940) (C.L. Freer source)

Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

Data Source

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Artist

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

Date

1879

Credit Line

Gift of Charles Lang Freer

Medium

Etching; ink on paper

Dimensions

H x W (overall): 17.3 x 29.9 cm (6 13/16 x 11 3/4 in)

Type

Print