Clifford Addams

The accomplished etchings of the American printmaker Clifford Isaac Addams rank amongst some of the most impressive and atmospheric etched works by any of Whistler’s followers. Born in New Jersey, Clifford Addams was trained as apprentice to an architect. He won a travelling scholarship from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1899 which enabled him to travel to Paris to study painting. There he enrolled in Whistler’s newly established Académie Carmen, which was run by Whistler’s long-term model Carmen Rossi. It was here that Clifford Addams met and married Inez Bate and together they became apprenticed to Whistler, pledging the “Master faithfully to serve, his secrets keep and his lawful commands obey”. Inez was appointed Massière of the Académie until its closure, on Whistler’s instructions, in 1901. The Addams’ followed Whistler to London when he returned in 1902, for they were by now his legal apprentices, and they visited him regularly until his death the following year.

All of Clifford Addams’ etchings of London date from between the years 1902 and 1920. In 1920 Clifford Addams abandoned his wife and family, returning to America where he became a member of the Brooklyn, Chicago and Philadelphia Societies of Etchers – he had been elected president of the Philadelphia society by 1930.