PROVENANCE
The Artist, Dublin, New Hampshire, to
MacBeth Galleries, New York, to
The W. J. Johnson Collection, Pennsylvania, to
Private collection

LITERATURE
Chilcott, Nicholas, A Champion of American Art- The Johnson Collection, 1975, Adams Publishing, Chicago, Illinois. American Federation of Art, September 1925, illustrated. International Studio Magazine, 1924, illustrated.

Well known as a central member of the Dublin Artist's Colony, at the foot of Mt. Monadnock in Dublin, NH, Abbott Handerson Thayer was a major and very successful artist. During his lifetime, he was considered one of America's finest figure painters. According to expert on the artist, Richard Meryman, "On hearing of Thayer's death, John Singer Sargent said 'Too bad he's gone. He was the best of them.' " "My Nephew, Harry Whiting," with it's gestural style and sublime palette represents Thayer's greatest achievement, and invokes Sargent, and Whistler, in its elegance, and Henri in its frank characterization and painterly deftness.

Painted c. 1905, this portrait of Thayer's nephew, Harry Whiting, was considered one of the artist's best by his dealer. In a letter dated May 10th, 1921, Robert Macbeth wrote, referring to "The Artist's Nephew..." in the Johnson Collection: "The boy's head has the real big Thayer quality to a remarkable extent."

Expert on A.H. Thayer, Dr. Susan A. Hobbs, has admired greatly this portrait of Harry Whiting. She has likened the picture to one in the noted Hyde Collection where Thayer has employed bright, near abstract brushstrokes at the upper edges of the canvas to refer to the drapery as background for the sitter. Hobbs has said "Here, the effect is bold and daring, and very successful."She goes on to say "The picture is framed in an early, magnificently carved and gilded frame, in a dramatic way that likens Thayer's work to the Old Masters. This was Thayer's goal, to present himself as, and to be a modern-day Master; to present a portrait with a sfumato background, but with elements of the modern and of Impressionism and Tonalism representing what was new and exciting in American painting."

"The Artist's Nephew, Harry Whiting" relates directly to a portrait by Thayer in the permanent collection of the Chicago Art Institute, and to one exhibited in the Memorial Exhibition for the artist held at the Metropolitan Museum in 1922. The painting has a distinguished provenance, excellent documentation/ scholarship, is in very good condition with a lining, only small lines of restoration along the frame edges, and bears a magnificent period frame.

A copy of the Handerson-Thayer geneaology (provided by Dr. Hobbs,) as well as a photograph of Harry Whiting standing in his uncle's art studio in Dublin, NH (provided by the Keene Historical Society,) a copy of Nicholas Chilcott's publication on the Johnson Collection (with MacBeth quotation,) a copy of the program for Thayer's 1922 Memorial Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum, a copy of the 1924 International Studio Magazine illustrating the portrait, and other important documents about this remarkable painting, accompany the artwork.