Chelsea
| Reference: | S42090 |
| Author | James Abbot MCNEIL WHISTLER |
| Year: | 1879 |
| Measures: | 330 x 245 mm |
| Reference: | S42090 |
| Author | James Abbot MCNEIL WHISTLER |
| Year: | 1879 |
| Measures: | 330 x 245 mm |
Description
Etching and drypoint, 1879; fifth state of five; printed in black ink on cream laid paper, good condition.
The etchings shows Chelsea Church and old Battersea Bridge, and the original title, 'Chelsea', is preferable although some scholars assign it the name Fulham.
Three barges are seen in the middle of the River Thames, the one nearest the bridge manned by two bargees. Behind them is an old bridge, with four wooden piers seen to left, a broad iron span, and then three more piers to right. There are figures, horses and carts on the bridge. Seen through the arches are a steamboat landing-stage, more trees and houses on an embankment on the right, and a suspension-bridge. The tide is low, so that the two right-hand piers are out of the water, and a couple of flat-bottomed barges sit high on the beach to right. To the right, a square church tower rises behind the bridge, the toll-booth is just visible at the end of the bridge, and a substantial square house and other buildings stand at far right, surrounded by tall trees.
The etching may have been called 'Fulham' by Wedmore and subsequent cataloguers to distinguish it from other etchings of Battersea Bridge and Chelsea. However, it does not show Fulham.
The changes have led to confusion and problems in identifying the subsequent history of this etching.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (Lowell, July 10, 1834 - London, July 17, 1903) was an American painter and engraver, rarely mentioned as James Whistler. A genius at producing intaglio etchings, Whistler was among the most inventive and influential printmakers in history, producing nearly 500 works over five decades. Etching offered Whistler the opportunity to combine speed of execution, drawing ideas quickly on the plate, with the ability to refine and develop them through multiple states, highlighting his complex aesthetic. His work, with such an innovative approach, not only attracted followers and imitators, but influenced the entire art world.
Bibliografia
Howard Mansfield A Descriptive Catalogue of the Etchings and Drypoints of James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Caxton Club, 1909, cat. no. 179; Edward Guthrie Kennedy, Royal Cortissoz The Etched Work of Whistler: illustrated by reproductions in collotype of the different states of the plates. The Grolier Club, 1910, cat. no. 182 ii/ii; Katharine A. Lochnan The Etchings of James McNeill Whistler. Ex. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, September 14–November 11, 1984; The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, November 24, 1984–January 13, 1985. Yale University Press, Art Gallery of Ontario, New Haven, 1984, cat. no. 179, pp. 179, 280; Margaret F. MacDonald, Grischka Petri, Joanna Meacock James McNeill Whistler: The Etchings, a catalogue raisonné, University of Glasgow on-line website at http://etchings.arts.gla.ac.uk. University of Glasgow, 2012, cat. no. 181 v/v.
James Abbot MCNEIL WHISTLER (Lowell, 10 luglio 1834 – Londra, 17 luglio 1903)
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James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American painter and engraver, rarely mentioned as James Whistler. A genius at producing intaglio engravings, Whistler was among the most inventive and influential printmakers in history, producing nearly 500 works over five decades. He approached engraving in 1857, at age 23, as a gifted and passionate young draftsman, using the technique of intaglio to record and reproduce quick sketches at a time when engraving was used as a mere reproductive technique. By the 18th century, in fact, art printing had become almost exclusively a means of reproducing works of art and portraits, and had become truly industrialized. Just at the end of the 19th century, with the birth and affirmation of photography, engraving was able to free itself from its utilitarian function, thanks to artists such as Whistler, who rediscovered the vitality and autonomy that had characterized it at the beginning. In his early years of experimentation with this technique he works outdoors, drawing on copper properly prepared, and then proceed to clamp in his room, touring Alsace-Lorraine and the Rhineland. In 1859 he moved to London, where he produced views of the Thames, remaining faithful to the purity of unadorned realism inspired by Japanese prints. At that time he also began to rub inks expressively and to work using the drypoint technique, preferring it to etching, for the production of portraits and figures. From September 1879 Whistler moved to Venice to produce twelve etchings, commissioned by the Fine Arts Society of London, which expected the return of the artist after a stay of three months. Instead, the artist stayed in the lagoon city fourteen months and produced fifty etchings, as well as one hundred pastels, reaching his creative peak. Etching offered Whistler the opportunity to combine speed of execution, drawing ideas quickly on the plate, with the ability to refine and develop them through multiple states, highlighting his complex aesthetic. His work, with such an innovative approach, not only attracted followers and imitators, but influenced the entire art world.
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James Abbot MCNEIL WHISTLER (Lowell, 10 luglio 1834 – Londra, 17 luglio 1903)
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James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American painter and engraver, rarely mentioned as James Whistler. A genius at producing intaglio engravings, Whistler was among the most inventive and influential printmakers in history, producing nearly 500 works over five decades. He approached engraving in 1857, at age 23, as a gifted and passionate young draftsman, using the technique of intaglio to record and reproduce quick sketches at a time when engraving was used as a mere reproductive technique. By the 18th century, in fact, art printing had become almost exclusively a means of reproducing works of art and portraits, and had become truly industrialized. Just at the end of the 19th century, with the birth and affirmation of photography, engraving was able to free itself from its utilitarian function, thanks to artists such as Whistler, who rediscovered the vitality and autonomy that had characterized it at the beginning. In his early years of experimentation with this technique he works outdoors, drawing on copper properly prepared, and then proceed to clamp in his room, touring Alsace-Lorraine and the Rhineland. In 1859 he moved to London, where he produced views of the Thames, remaining faithful to the purity of unadorned realism inspired by Japanese prints. At that time he also began to rub inks expressively and to work using the drypoint technique, preferring it to etching, for the production of portraits and figures. From September 1879 Whistler moved to Venice to produce twelve etchings, commissioned by the Fine Arts Society of London, which expected the return of the artist after a stay of three months. Instead, the artist stayed in the lagoon city fourteen months and produced fifty etchings, as well as one hundred pastels, reaching his creative peak. Etching offered Whistler the opportunity to combine speed of execution, drawing ideas quickly on the plate, with the ability to refine and develop them through multiple states, highlighting his complex aesthetic. His work, with such an innovative approach, not only attracted followers and imitators, but influenced the entire art world.
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