The Barber’s Shop Object Number Etching printed on Dutch ‘antique’ laid paper trimmed by the artist, c.1887
After working on his Venice etchings, Whistler looked for subjects in the streets of Chelsea, where he lived at a series of addresses until leaving London for Paris in 1892. The three prints on this page are typical of Whistler’s London etchings of the 1880s: small in scale, describing light and shade with an economy of line, and sketched as though the plate was a sketchbook page. Many of the prints show shop fronts and facades, with figures silhouetted in doorways and arches, recalling the figure subjects among Whistler’s Venice etchings.
Bequeathed by G. J. F. Knowles 1959
Collections record: P.84-1959
