Flower Market: Dieppe F1907.171a-b: Curatorial Analysis | Whistler in Watercolor

Provenance: To 1907
Obach & Co., London, to 1907 [1]

From 1907 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Obach & Co. in 1907 [2]

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

Notes:

[1] See List of Whistler Purchases Since Making Up the Smithsonian Inventory, pg. 4, 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.

Selected Curatorial Remarks: 1. Glazer, Jacobson, McCarthy, Roeder, wall label, 2019:
Whistler was fascinated by street scenes throughout his career, from his early etchings and watercolors of the quiet village of Saverne in the Rhineland, to a busy flower market in northern France, and on to the children in his London neighborhood.

Selected Published References: 1. Curry: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, pg. 194
A letter written by Walter Sickert confirms that Flower Market: Dieppe was one of several watercolors given to him by Whistler and that it was painted in 1885. The master was visiting his pupil in Dieppe that September. Whistler also painted a number of oils, including Grey and Brown: The Sad Sea Shore [F1914.2]. In contrast to the gloomy beach scene, Whistler's view of the flower market is exuberant, full of bright light in which the colorful blossoms, the awnings, and some of the women's costumes vibrate in joyous visual harmony, dominated by complementary blues and oranges. Earlier in 1885, Whistler had delivered his Ten O'Clock Lecture for the first time. Among the many epigrammatic passages was his observation that the artist "delights in the dainty–the sharp, bright gaiety of beauty."

Previous owner(s): Obach & Co. (C.L. Freer source)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

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Flower Market: Dieppe