Early Morning
Medium
Lithotint with scraping, on a prepared half-tint ground, in black on cream wove proofing paper
Dimensions
Image: 16.5 × 26.9 cm (6 1/2 × 10 5/8 in.); Sheet: 25.6 × 37.9 cm (10 1/8 × 14 15/16 in.)
Classification
lithotint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
139397
Art Historical Context
James McNeill Whistler’s *Early Morning* (1878) is a masterful example of his innovative printmaking, housed in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Prints and Drawings. Created as a lithotint with scraping on a prepared half-tint ground in black ink on cream wove proof paper, this intimate work measures just 16.5 × 26.9 cm for the image, inviting close contemplation of its delicate textures. Whistler, the American-born artist renowned for his Aestheticism and tonal harmonies, used lithography to evoke subtle atmospheres akin to his famous oil nocturnes. Lithotint, a technique Whistler helped popul...
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...