The Fish Shop, Busy Chelsea (Fish Shop, Chelsea)

1886–87

Not on view

After returning to London from Venice, Whistler made a number of prints devoted to the shop fronts of small vendors operating in old buildings. Here, the windows, awnings, and piled counters of Elizabeth Maunder’s fish shop on Cheyne Walk, near the artist’s Chelsea residence, are used to develop an abstracted pattern of lights and darks. Supported by the architecture, the horizontal arrangement is punctuated by pedestrians and shop assistants, some standing within shadowed doorways, others on the brightly lit sidewalk.

Artwork Details

Title: The Fish Shop, Busy Chelsea (Fish Shop, Chelsea)
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1886–87
Medium: Etching; second state of two (Glasgow)
Dimensions: 5 3/8 x 8 7/16 in. (13.7 x 21.5 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011
Object Number: 2012.136.961
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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James McNeill Whistler

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Reading, James McNeill Whistler American, Lithograph with scraping; printed in black ink on grayish chine mounted on ivory wove paper; fourth state of four (Chicago) — Reading
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Windsor (Memorial), James McNeill Whistler American, Drypoint; third state of four (Glasgow); printed in dark brown ink on ivory laid paper — Windsor (Memorial)
James McNeill Whistler
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Early Morning, James McNeill Whistler American, Lithotint with scraping, on a prepared half-tint ground, printed in black ink on cream wove paper; third state of four (Chicago) — Early Morning
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