Balcony, Amsterdam
Medium
Etching and drypoint in black ink on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image, trimmed within platemark: 27.1 × 16.2 cm (10 11/16 × 6 7/16 in.); Sheet: 27.4 × 16.2 cm (10 13/16 × 6 7/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
19809
Art Historical Context
Step onto the charming streets of 19th-century Amsterdam with James McNeill Whistler'sBalcony, Amsterdam* (1889), a etching and drypoint from Art Institute of Chicago's and Drawings collection. Whistler, the American-born artist who made his home in London, was a of Aestheticism, championing "art for art's sake" through his emphasis on tonal harmony and subtle beauty. Created during a trip to the Netherlands, this intimate scene captures the quiet elegance of a wrought-iron balcony overlooking a canal-side vista, evoking the city's historic Golden Age architecture amid everyday life. Whistler...
About the Artist
James McNeill Whistler · 1834–1903
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was an American-born painter and printmaker who became a leading figure in the Aesthetic Movement and pioneer of Tonalism and Japonisme. He revolutionized art by championing "art for art's sake" and treating paintings as visual equivalents of musical compositions, titling works as "arrangements," "harmonies," and "nocturnes" to emphasize formal qualities o...