Firelight
Medium
Transfer lithograph in black on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 19.1 × 14.9 cm (7 9/16 × 5 7/8 in.); Sheet: 28.2 × 22.6 cm (11 1/8 × 8 15/16 in.)
Classification
transfer lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
139497
Art Historical Context
James McNeill Whistler, innovative American-born artist celebrated for his Aesthetic movement ideals and subtle tonal harmonies, crafted *Firelight* in 6. This intimate transfer lithograph in black ink on cream laid paper measures just 19.1 × 14.9 cm for the image, inviting visitors to lean in and savor its delicate glow. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago Prints and Drawings department, it reflects Whistler's late-career passion for printmaking as a democratic art form, bridging his famed oil paintings and etchings. Transfer lithography, Whistler's chosen technique here, involved drawing...
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...