Sale 2454 - 19th & 20th Century Prints & Drawings, September 19, 2017

14 c JAMES A. M.WHISTLER The Slipper . Etching and drypoint printed in dark brownish black, 1859. 120x80 mm; 4 3 / 4 x3 1 / 8 inches, wide (full ?) margins. MacDonald’s second state (of 2). A very good impression. According to MacDonald, there are approx­ imately 30 recorded impressions of this subject. Though commonly known by the title Reading in Bed , Whistler gave it the title The Slipper (referring to the lone slipper on the floor in front of the bed) in the early 1870s. A very scarce etching. An intimate study of Whistler’s older half-sister, Deborah Delano Haden, and the first of three etched versions of Deborah reading that he made in the late 1850s. According to MacDonald, “Deborah was shortsighted, which explains why she is holding the journal so close to her face. She eventually went blind.” Kennedy 28; Glasgow 43. [3,000/5,000] 14 13