The Marble Palace
Classification
Drawing
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Accession Number
F1905.123a-b
Tags
American ArtCharles Lang Freer collectionUnited Statespalace
About this artwork
"Whistler often used the chalk on its side, sometimes with firm pressure, to create passages of strong scumbling. While simple charcoal outlines give structure to the architecture, a lightly scumbled haze embraces the old Marble Palace itself. In alternating passages of clarity through charcoal lines and obscurity through nearly evanescent pastel, Whistler evokes a world of dreams, a time when perception and enigma intermingle."