Sickert-Pennell-Whistler

WALTER SICKERT
Little Sally Waters.

Lithograph on smooth cream wove paper, 1907. 326x218 mm; 13x8 5/8 inches, full margins. From The Neolith. A very good impression.

Sickert (1860-1942) was Whistler's closest follower during the 1880s and early 1890s. He first met Whistler in May 1879, before Whistler's departure for Venice, and became his unofficial student and assistant in 1882. Along with fellow "pupil" Mortimer Menpes, Sickert helped Whistler print his Venice etchings and proof his lithographs during this time. Despite their friendship during these dozen or more years, as was so often the case with Whistler, there was a falling out ultimately.

Their parting was a result of a libel suit brought against Sickert by Joseph Pennell on account of Sickert's bashing Pennell's use of transfer lithography in an article in the December 1896 Sunday Review. Whistler came to Pennell's defense in the case and at the trial referred to Sickert as, "An insignificant and irresponsible person." Sickert sold his considerable collection of Whistler paintings and prints in 1905, to raise much needed funds.


use of the process called transfer lithography, by which the tusche drawing is made on paper instead of on the lithographic stone. The drawing is then transferred to the stone and printed in the usual way. This method, which is more convenient than working on stone, retains the paper's texture…