Etchings Institutions search term: hahlo
The Desk | ||
Number: | 129 | |
Date: | 1874/1876 | |
Medium: | drypoint | |
Size: | 216 x 139 mm | |
Signed: | no | |
Inscribed: | no | |
Set/Publication: | no | |
No. of States: | 5 | |
Known impressions: | 6 | |
Catalogues: | K.133; M.131; W.104 | |
Impressions taken from this plate (6) |
PUBLICATION
It may have been printed with the intention of publishing it with the 'Cancelled Set' by the Fine Art Society, London, in 1879 (
), but was not actually published with the set.

EXHIBITIONS
Only one exhibition is recorded in Whistler's lifetime. An impression was lent by Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) to the exhibition organised by the Caxton Club in Chicago in 1900 (
). 4
After Whistler's death, Freer lent his impression to the Grolier Club in New York in 1904, and one was also shown in the London Memorial Exhibition in London in 1905. 5

After Whistler's death, Freer lent his impression to the Grolier Club in New York in 1904, and one was also shown in the London Memorial Exhibition in London in 1905. 5
4: Chicago 1900 (cat. no. 98).
5: New York 1904a (cat. no. 111); London Mem. 1905 (cat. no. 104).
SALES & COLLECTORS
It was rare, with only six uncancelled impressions located. Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) bought an impression from the firm of Max Williams & Co. in 1893 (
). Howard Mansfield (1849-1938) owned one, which was sold through A. A. Hahlo & Co., New York, to Harris G. Whittemore (d. ca 1937), and later bought with the Pennell Fund for the Library of Congress, Washington, DC. (
). The British Museum acquired a worked proof in 1907 (
). Another impression, from the collections of Charles C. Cunningham (1910-1979) and Otto Gerstenberg (1848-1935), went eventually to the National Gallery of Australia (
).



