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Nocturne
Additional Images (4)

Nocturne

Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1878
Medium: Lithotint with scraping, on a prepared half-tint ground, second state of two (Chicago), printed in soft gray-black ink on pale blue laid chine mounted on ivory wove plate paper
Dimensions: Image: 6 3/4 × 10 3/16 in. (17.1 × 25.9 cm) Sheet: 13 1/2 × 19 5/16 in. (34.3 × 49 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
Accession Number: 17.3.159
Not on view
Secondary Titles Object Information Related Objects Online Resources Video Audio
Nocturne: The Thames at Battersea

  • Description

    In this early lithograph, Whistler drew his design directly on the stone (rather than onto transfer paper), applying washes of ink to achieve striking atmospheric effects. Whistler printed this river subject in 1878, the year in which his libel case against the art critic John Ruskin (1819-1900)—involving Ruskin's attack on one of Whistler's painted "Nocturnes"—was heard. Tlthough Whistler won the case, the court costs forced him to declare bankruptcy in the following year.

  • Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

    Signature: In the stone: butterfly monogram, lower right

  • Provenance

    Vendor: Dick Estate, U.S. Trust

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Way 5; Chicago 8 ii/ii; Levy 10-11

Some related objects from the collection
Limehouse

Limehouse
James McNeill Whistler
(American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1878
Medium: Lithotint with scraping and incising, on a prepared half-tint ground; first state of three (Chicago) printed in black ink on off-white wove paper
Accession Number: 1984.1119.1
Not on view

Limehouse

Limehouse
James McNeill Whistler
(American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1878
Medium: Lithotint with scraping and incising, on a prepared half-tint ground; second state of three (Chicago); printed in black ink on cream Japanese paper mounted on white plate paper
Accession Number: 17.3.158
Not on view

Early Morning

Early Morning
James McNeill Whistler
(American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1878
Medium: Lithotint with scraping, on a prepared half-tint ground; third state of four (Chicago); printed in black ink on cream wove paper
Accession Number: 17.3.160
Not on view

The Toilet

The Toilet
James McNeill Whistler
(American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1878
Medium: Lithotint, with scraping and incising, on a prepared half-tint ground; second state of five
Accession Number: 1984.1119.2
Not on view

The Tall Bridge

The Tall Bridge
James McNeill Whistler
(American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1878
Medium: Lithotint with scraping, first state of two (Chicago), printed in brown ink on Japanese paper mounted on off-white plate paper
Accession Number: 1984.1096
Not on view

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