Fumette, Standing
Medium
Drypoint with plate tone in warm black on cream Japanese paper
Dimensions
Image/plate: 34.7 × 22.1 cm (13 11/16 × 8 3/4 in.); Sheet: 38.3 × 24.1 cm (15 1/8 × 9 1/2 in.)
Classification
drypoint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
137989
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
A young woman, known only by the name Eloise or Héloise and called Fumette, lived with Whistler for a time during his bohemian student days in Paris and posed for several of his etchings. A hatmaker or seamstress, rather than a professional model, she was among the Parisian working-class women who lived outside the norms of polite society and sometimes posed for youthful artists.
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...