James McNeill Whistler Black Lion Wharf

Date 1859
Materials Etching - black ink
Dimensions 14.9 cm x 22.4 cm
Marks Signed on lower right of etching plate: "Whistler 1859".
Further information GLAHA 46783.
Edward G. Kennedy, The Etched Work of Whistler, New York, The Grolier Club, 1910 (42, 3rd of 3 states).

Note Rather than depicting the impressive monuments and historic buildings of London, Whistler, influenced by the French critic Charles Baudelaire, preferred to portray the bustle of life at the capital’s docks. This etching is part of a series known as the ‘Thames Set’. Whistler took great pleasure drawing the dilapidated warehouses of Black Lion Wharf. Look at the rickety chimneys, uneven walls, lumpy roofs, little paned windows, stencilled business signs and balconies that Whistler shows. Notice also the patterning of rigging, masts and cargo on board the sail boats and barges. See how he used different kinds of cross-hatched line to suggest different materials: tiles, timber, iron and brick. Wanting to imitate the way in which the eye sees, Whistler chose to concentrate on certain areas of the scene and leave others out of focus. Look how roughly the two boatmen in the right of the picture are drawn in. This etching appears on the wall in Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter’s Mother.

Related works YMSM 101.