Whistler in White Ducks (Whistler: Five Faces)
At left, Whistler is shown standing at full-length wearing white trousers and black coat. Five additional half-length views are more lightly etched at right. Menpes in "Whistler as I Knew Him" (1904, p. 35) writes how Whistler extended his "artistic conceptions" to his attire: "The idea of wearing white white duck trousers with a black coat was conceived, not in order to be unlike other people, but because they formed a harmony in black and white which he loved. White ducks are cotton trousers popular in England and sometimes associated with dandies. Etching, which usually is printed in black ink on white paper, is a medium perfectly suited to the subject.
Artwork Details
- Title: Whistler in White Ducks (Whistler: Five Faces)
- Artist: Mortimer Menpes (Australian, Port Adelaide 1855–1938 Pangbourne, England)
- Sitter: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
- Date: 1909–11
- Medium: Etching on chine collé
- Dimensions: plate: 6 3/4 x 5 13/16 in. (17.2 x 14.8 cm)
sheet: 10 1/16 x 10 7/8 in. (25.5 x 27.7 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of Paul F. Walter, 1985
- Object Number: 1985.1161.21
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Mortimer Menpes
1887–88
Mortimer Menpes
Charles Augustus Howell
1879
Mortimer Menpes
1887–88
Mortimer Menpes
1887–88
Mortimer Menpes
James McNeill Whistler
1892–1902
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