Nocturne: Palaces
1879/80
Medium
Etching and drypoint in brownish black, with selective wiping of plate tone, on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image, trimmed within platemark: 29.4 × 20.1 cm (11 5/8 × 7 15/16 in.); Sheet, with signature tab: 30.1 × 20.1 cm (11 7/8 × 7 15/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
109213
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In developing this image, Whistler exploited plate tone (ink left on the unetched surface of the copper plate) to an extraordinary degree. Etched and incised drypoint lines were used as a framework for painterly inking and wiping of the plate, which allowed for endlessly varied impressions. In fact, each example of Nocturne: Palaces is different, conveying distinctive interpretations of light, darkness, and atmosphere. The impressions represent different states (second and eleventh); ink colors...
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...