Little Sallie Waters (The Straw Hat)

Though he showed artistic talent early in his life, Walter Sickert was discouraged by his artist father, Oswald, from pursuing it, and instead he became an actor. But after less-than-distinguished attempts he enrolled in art school and began to study under Whistler. In 1883 Whistler asked him to act as courier, accompanying his Portrait of the Artist’s Mother to the Paris Salon. There Sickert met Edgar Degas and began to study with him, while also continuing with Whistler for the next several years. Like both his teachers, Sickert was interested in rendering everyday life and, particularly, class distinctions. In Little Sallie Waters (The Straw Hat) he depicts a young woman market seller, known as a costermonger. These women, in their common, flat-topped hats, were frequently the subjects of Sickert’s students and other members of the Camden Town Group. Besides this print, Sickert rendered costermongers in many of his paintings. (“The Touch of the Butterfly: Whistler and His Influence,” curated by Nancy E. Green and presented at the Johnson Museum August 4-December 16, 2018)