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Gaiety Stage Door

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Artwork Details

Gaiety Stage Door
1879
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
transfer lithograph with scraping on buff-colored paper, laid down on white wove
15 x 21 5/8 in. (38 x 54.9 cm);7 3/16 x 8 15/16 in. (18.2 x 22.7 cm);15 x 21 5/8 in. (38 x 54.9 cm)
Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker
1954/1.419

On Display

Not currently on display

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Description

Subject Matter:

The Way's printing offices on Wellington Street faced the back of the Gaiety Theatre and Whistler several times drew the stage door of the theatre from the Way's establishment. In this way, technical innovations introduced by the Ways--such as the use of transfer paper--could be experimented with immediately by Whistler.
"Gaiety Stage Door" was published in the portfolio "Notes" in 1887.

Physical Description:

A building with an arched doorway, windows at the center right, and the beginning of a flight of stairs on the right acts as architectural foils for the figures and a cart and horse (hansom cab?) arrayed in front of the building or grouped in the dark entryway.

Usage Rights:

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