James McNeill Whistler Wapping

Date 1860-1864
Materials Oil on canvas
Dimensions 71.1 cm x 101.6 cm
Marks Signed and dated: “Whistler 1861”
Further information Collection: John Hay Whitney Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington. www.nga.gov
Andrew McLaren Young, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1980 (35, plate 23).

Note Wapping was the name of one of the districts on the docks of the river Thames. Although many people considered it to be dirty, ugly and to contain criminal types, Whistler found beauty there. In the foreground of this picture are portrayed a woman, probably a prostitute, modelled by Joanna Hiffernan, and two men who may be her customers. They are painted in dark colours, so that the eye is drawn beyond them to the real focus of the work, the wonderful patterning of masts, sails and rigging in the background. In fact, Whistler had real trouble painting the foreground figures. The paint here is cracked and shows that Whistler over-worked this area with repainting. In contrast the ships are painted with a freshness and vitality, using dabs of bright colour: red, blue and yellow. The eye focuses on these areas, for example, the red funnel of the central barge.