Whistler with a Hat1859
Whistler portrays himself at about twenty-five in a broad-brimmed hat, scratching the image directly into the copper with a drypoint needle. More about this work
About this work
Whistler portrays himself at about twenty-five in a broad-brimmed hat, scratching the image directly into the copper with a drypoint needle. The slight burr thrown up by the needle holds extra ink and gives the lines a soft, velvety richness, enhanced here by a light film of tone left on the plate and by the thin Japanese paper. Made in 1859, the year he settled in London, the print shows the young American already a confident printmaker, and it echoes the self-portrait etchings of Rembrandt, whom he deeply admired.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
A work made of drypoint with light plate tone on thin ivory japanese paper.
Description from the Art Institute of Chicago.
How it was made
- Drypoint
- Lines scratched straight into the plate with a needle throw up a ridge of metal, the burr, which holds ink and prints a soft, furred line. The burr wears down, so early impressions are the richest.
James McNeill Whistler
American, 1834–1903 · Born in Lowell, Massachusetts; died in London.
Whistler spent part of his boyhood in Russia, left West Point without graduating and trained as a painter in Paris before settling in London in 1859. He held that a picture was an arrangement of colour and form, and named his works symphonies, harmonies and nocturnes; a hostile review of one nocturne led to his 1878 libel suit against John Ruskin. He was equally committed to etching, and in his Venice plates of 1879–80 he left films of ink on the copper to suggest water and dusk.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Art Institute of Chicago has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 2011.1098
- Credit
- Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Type
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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