Skip to main content
Collections Menu
(American, 1834–1903)

Bead Stringers

1879–80
Etching and drypoint on tan laid paper
Plate: 8 15/16 x 6 1/8 in. (22.7 x 15.6 cm)
Mat: 18 x 14 in. (45.7 x 35.6 cm)
Credit LineTerra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection
Object number1992.145
SignedSigned in graphite on tab, lower left, with butterfly monogram and "imp"; signed in plate, center left (to left of doorway) with butterfly monogram
Interpretation
Bead Stringers presents a typical scene observed by James McNeill Whistler as he moved about Venice seeking subjects for his art: bead stringers gathered for work and conversation at a doorway opening directly onto a pedestrian street. Suggestive in its spontaneity of an on-the-spot sketch, this etching pictures three seated figures: a young woman stringing beads in the sunlight outside, a mother with her baby on her lap framed by the doorway, and an older bead-stringer placed just inside the darkened interior evoked by a concentrated network of lines surrounding a shuttered window. Setting the woman at the left apart from her companions, Whistler deftly outlined her profile, focusing on her kerchiefed head, her upraised left hand poised in thread-pulling, her dress, and a gathered hem revealing her slender ankle. He was less interested in her face, however, and neglected to detail the strand she was stringing, leaving the viewer to imagine it in the blank space. Whistler placed his butterfly monogram signature prominently at the left edge of the door frame; above the doorway, the numerical address "37" is faintly visible. This glimpse of a modest cottage industry alludes to Venice's thriving glassmaking production, which still today creates dazzling beads for jewelry.

This domestic scene of women's work contrasts with another typical street image, Beggars (TF 1994.8), which also shows Venetian women. These etchings were among the fifty Whistler made during his stay in Venice from September 1879 to November 1880 to fulfill a commission from London's Fine Art Society. Bead Stringers was published in 1886 in "A Set of Twenty-six Etchings," known as the "Second Venice Set."
ProvenanceThe artist
Miss R. Birnie Philip (bequest by artist)
University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland (bequest by Miss R. Birnie Philip)
Davis & Langdale Company, Inc., New York, New York
Daniel J. Terra Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1985
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1992

Exhibition History
King's Lynn, no. 15

Arts Council, no. 27

Regard sur James Abbott McNeill Whistler (James Abbott McNeill Whistler at a Glance), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 30, 1994 (on exhibit partial run: September 20–October 30, 1994).

Héroïque et le quotidien: les artistes américains, 1820–1920 (The Extraordinary and the Everyday: American Perspectives, 1820–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 30, 2001. [exh. cat.]
Published References
Kennedy, Edward Guthrie. The Etched Work of Whistler. Illustrated by reproductions in collotype of the different states of the plates. New York: Grolier Club, 1910. No. 198 vii/viii.

Lochnan, Katharine A. The Etchings of James McNeill Whistler. New Haven, Connecticut and London, England: Art Gallery of Ontario and Yale University Press, 1984. No. 223.
Maud, Standing
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
c. 1873
Grey and Silver: The Golf Links, Dublin
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
1900
Rose et Vert, l'Iris: Portrait of Miss Kinsella
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
begun 1894
Metadata embedded, 2021
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
c. 1873
Metadata Embedded, 2019
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
c. 1901
2019 Photography Metadata Embedded
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
1881
Metadata embedded, 2021
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
c. 1893
2020 metadata embedded
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
c. 1887
A Chelsea Shop
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
c. 1894–95
2019 Photography Metadata Embedded
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
1879–80
Metadata embedded, 2021
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
1879–80
Metadata EMBEDDED, 2021
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
1879–80