Street at Saverne
Medium
etching on Asian laid paper
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.8405
Art Historical Context
James McNeill Whistler’s *Street at Saverne* (1858) captures a quiet moment in the French town of Saverne, Alsace, during the artist’s early travels through Europe. At just 24, the American-born painter and printmaker—later renowned for his elegant portraits and tonal harmonies—was honing his skills in Paris and beyond, drawing inspiration from French Realists like Gustave Courbet. This etching reflects his youthful fascination with everyday urban scenes, rendered with a fresh, observational eye amid the mid-19th-century revival of printmaking. Executed as an etching on Asian laid paper, the ...
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...