Jack # Mary Ann Nichols
2001
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
graphite on Saunders HP paper
Dimensions
sheet: 46.8 × 38 cm (18 7/16 × 14 15/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of The Heather and Tony Podesta Collection
Accession Number
2014.150.21
Art Historical Context
Julie Roberts' *Jack # Mary Ann Nichols (2001) is a haunting graphite drawing that evokes the chilling legacy of Jack the Ripper, London's notorious serial killer of 1888. Mary Ann Nichols, the artist's titular subject, was the Ripper's first canonical victim, discovered murdered in Whitechapel. Roberts, a British artist renowned for her hyperrealistic of true-crime scenes, transforms this grim history into an intimate portrait, inviting viewers to confront the human cost of violence through meticulous detail. Crafted on Saunders HP paper—a smooth, heavyweight surface ideal for graphite— the ...