Portrait of Dr. Whistler, No. 2
Medium
Transfer lithograph; printed in black ink on fine cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 7 9/16 × 6 1/16 in. (19.2 × 15.4 cm) Sheet: 12 3/4 x 8 1/16 in. (32.4 x 20.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Paul F. Walter, 1984
Accession Number
1984.1119.27
Tags
Art Historical Context
James McNeill Whistler created this sensitive portrait in 1894 using the transfer lithograph process, a technique that allowed him to draw freely on paper before transferring the image to a lithographic stone. The resulting print, executed in black ink on fine cream laid paper, captures the quiet dignity of its subject with Whistler’s characteristic economy of line and subtle tonal gradations. By this late stage in his career, the American-born artist, long resident in London and Paris, had become celebrated for his refined approach to portraiture and his belief in “art for art’s sake.” The m...
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...