Little Evelyn
Medium
lithograph in black on laid paper
Dimensions
image: 17.4 × 11.5 cm (6 7/8 × 4 1/2 in.) sheet: 30.8 x 22.23 cm (12 1/8 x 8 3/4 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
The John U. and Evelyn S. Nef Collection
Accession Number
2011.60.48
Art Historical Context
"Little Evelyn" is a delicate lithograph created by James McNeill Whistler in 1896, capturing the tender innocence of childhood through subtle tonal mastery. Whistler, the renowned American-born artist famed for his Aestheticist principles of "art for art's sake," produced this intimate portrait late in his career. Measuring just 17.4 × 11.5 cm, the image is printed in black ink on laid paper—a textured, handmade sheet that enhances the work's organic feel—within a larger 30.8 × 22.23 cm sheet. Lithography, Whistler's favored medium here, allowed him to draw directly on stone with greasy cray...
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...