James McNeill Whistler

Nocturne: Battersea Bridge

© Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Date 1872 / 1873
Materials Chalk and pastel on paper, laid on card
Dimensions 18.1-18.3 cm x 28.0 cm
Marks Signed with a butterfly
Further information Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. www.asia.si.edu/
Margaret F. MacDonald, James McNeill Whistler: Drawings, Pastels and Watercolours: A Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1995 (484).

Note This pastel was drawn in vivid blue, purple and yellow and was possibly intended to test the visual effect of these colours for Blue and Silver: Screen, with Old Battersea Bridge. This design shows how Whistler simplified the appearance of the bridge in the screen. The overall effect of this work is highly decorative. However, there are figures recognisable on the bridge and in the foreground boat, and Chelsea clock tower can be made out on the left. A yellow dot suggests its clock face. The yellow reflection of the moon in the water adds to the sense of patterning. Whistler wanted to limit the colours he used and have these subtly reappear throughout his design. Yellow was also used on the figures on the bridge, to indicate the lights of the buildings and their reflections in the water and to suggest fireworks in the sky.

Related works YMSM 139 (GLAHA 46379); GLAHA 46380; YMSM 140.