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Eden Versus Whistler. The Baronet & the Butterfly : A Valentine with a Verdict
New York: R.H. Russell, 1899. Hardcover. Sm 4to (10” x 7.5”), half linen, gilt brown paper over boards. Supplementary frontis. port. of Whistler, 78 pp., occasional Whistler butterfly and other ornaments in text. Untrimmed. Colophon signed by Whistler with his butterfly signature. Original albumen print photo of Whistler affixed to front pastedown, with stamp of London Stereoscopic Company in the lower right corner. Newspaper and magazine clippings relating to Whistler laid in. CONDITION: Good, moderate wear to extremities, spine toned, covers rubbed, light offsetting and foxing to pastedowns and endpapers, light offsetting from laid in clippings to colophon page, page opposite, and one other page, terminal endpaper discolored, otherwise clean throughout. First edition, limited to two hundred and fifty signed copies, “one hundred and twenty five for France – one hundred and twenty five for America.” This copy is number 13 from the American run. From the library of etcher, poster-artist and friend of Whistler, Ernest Haskell. This copy was used by Haskell as a scrapbook of material pertaining to Whistler. Eden Versus Whistler is the artist’s account of the facts relating to legal action taken against him in connection with his portrait of Lady Eden. “In 1892, Sir William Eden, a wealthy baronet, expressed that he would like Whistler to paint his wife Lady Eden. Whistler initially said he would charge 500 guineas, which William Eden thought to be too much. Later Whistler changed his mind and said he would agree to paint Lady Eden for between 100 to 150 pounds. Lady Eden sat for the portrait in Paris in January 1894. In February 1894, Eden saw the painting in Whistler’s studio and, as he was completely satisfied with the painting, he sent a cheque to Whistler for 100 guineas. Whistler accepted the cheque but kept the painting. Eden then travelled to India, and while he was overseas, Whistler sent the painting to an exhibition in Paris, at the National Society for Fine Arts. When Eden returned from India, Eden demanded delivery of the painting, but Whistler refused. Whistler returned the money which Eden had paid him; Whistler considered that as he had returned the money, he was not obliged to give the painting to Eden. In November 1894, Eden started legal proceedings in Paris. While the proceedings were ongoing, Whistler painted out the face and the figure of Lady Eden, and painted, over the top, the portrait of another sitter (an American, Mrs Herbert Dudley Hale) and added a pot of flowers to the right of the sitter. Further, after the case had been decided, and the costs hearing was ongoing, Whistler is reported to have sandpapered down the picture, to reveal Lady Eden again. Before the courts, Eden argued that the picture was complete when he saw it in February 1894 and, as he had paid the price, Whistler was therefore obliged to deliver it to Eden, as the commissioner of the picture. However, Whistler resisted this argument, on the basis that the work was unfinished. As his lawyer argued in Court: ‘you cannot oblige an artist, to give up an unfinished work and allow the incomplete creations of his heart and brain to circulate the world’ (Whistler, ‘Eden Versus Whistler: The Baronet and the Butterfly’ 1899, p.27) The first instance court decided in favour of Eden, but Whistler won on appeal: Whistler could keep the picture, so long as both the purchase price and damages were paid to Eden.” (Cooper, Elena. “What can we learn about Copyright History from Whistler’s Portrait of Lady Eden?” online)
Item #8534
Price: $650.00
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