Model Seated
Classification
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1898.348
Tags
About this artwork
1
Art Historical Context
**Model Seated** (1873) is a delicate drypoint print by James Mc Whistler, the renowned American artist who spent much of his career in Europe, championing "art for art sake" and the Aesthetic movement. Created during Whistler's prolific period of printmaking in the 1860s and 1870s, this intimate work captures a young child model seated in a poised, contemplative pose. Whistler's masterful use of drypoint—a technique where a sharp tool scratches directly into a copper plate, producing rich, velvety burrs and subtle tonal effects—lends the image a soft, atmospheric quality, emphasizing form and...