Black Lion Wharf, from A Series of Sixteen Etchings of Scenes on the Thames (the "Thames Set")
1859, published 1871
Medium
Etching with foul biting in black on off-white laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 15.1 × 22.7 cm (6 × 8 15/16 in.); Sheet: 21.6 × 33.3 cm (8 9/16 × 13 1/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
50837
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This etching is the framed print seen on the back wall of Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1, though its identification would only have been possible for those intimately familiar with Whistler’s printed oeuvre. It is believed that Whistler did indeed have a framed impression of this work installed in his house in London on Lindsey Row, where his mother sat for him. It therefore serves as a reference to the space itself, the artist’s studio, as well as his early acclaim in the field of printmak...
About the Artist
James McNeill Whistler · 1834–1903
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was an American-born painter and printmaker who became a leading figure in the Aesthetic Movement and pioneer of Tonalism and Japonisme. He revolutionized art by championing "art for art's sake" and treating paintings as visual equivalents of musical compositions, titling works as "arrangements," "harmonies," and "nocturnes" to emphasize formal qualities o...