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22 JAMES A. M.WHISTLER
Jo’s Bent Head
.
Drypoint on antique cream laid paper, 1861. 226x152 mm; 8
7
/
8
x6 inches, full margins.
MacDonald’s third state (of 3). Coat-of-arms with a powder horn watermark (the same
watermark is on the impression of this subject in the University of Michigan Museum of Art).
A superb, dark, well-inked impression of this very scarce, early print.
According to MacDonald, there are approximately 30 recorded impressions of this subject.
The model is Joanna Hiffernan (born circa 1843),Whistler’s red-headed Irish mistress; she
was also the sitter forWhistler’s famous painting,
Symphony inWhite, No. 1:TheWhite Girl
,
1861, now in the National Gallery of Art,Washington, DC.
Whistler granted Hiffernan power of attorney over his affairs in London while he was in
Valparaiso in 1866; she acted as agent for the sale of his works during this period too.The
same year, she traveled to Paris to pose for Gustave Courbet’s erotically charged
Le Sommeil
,
1866, now in the Musée du Petit Palais, Paris; it seems likely that Courbet and Hiffernan also
had an affair. Consequently,Whistler and Hiffernan parted ways soon after his return from
Valparaiso. Kennedy 78; Glasgow 88.
[5,000/8,000]