An Uninteresting Story
James Tissot French
Not on view
Soon after his arrival in England in 1871, Tissot made a series of eighteenth-century costume genre scenes with the Thames river as a backdrop. It was not until later in the decade that he decided to make an etching after one of these Thames-side historical pictures. "An Uninteresting Story" reproduces a painting of the same title (private collection), which is itself based on the first work the artist exhibited at the Royal Academy, titled ironically, "An Interesting Story," ca. 1872 (National Gallery of Victoria). The comedic narrative subject of both versions aimed to appeal to Victorian tastes. In adopting the Thames-side setting, Tissot recalled the work of James McNeill Whistler, who had produced a suite of etchings featuring east London riverside scenes in 1859–61.
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