The Storm
Medium
Drypoint; third state of three, from the cancelled plate as published in 1879 by the Fine Art Society (Glasgow); printed in black ink on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 6 3/16 × 11 3/16 in. (15.7 × 28.4 cm) Sheet: 8 1/8 × 12 1/2 in. (20.6 × 31.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of James N. Rosenberg, 1957
Accession Number
57.609.26
Tags
Art Historical Context
James McNeill Whistler’s *The Storm* (1861) captures the raw drama of nature’s fury through the intimate medium of drypoint, a technique where the artist scratches directly into a copper plate to create rich, velvety lines the burr raised by the tool. This print, the third and final state of three from cancelled plate—intentionally scratched to halt further impressions—was published in 1879 by the Fine Art Society in Glasgow. Printed in black ink on ivory laid, its modest plate size of 6 3/16 × 11 3/16 inches evokes a sense of immediacy, as if glimpsed amid the tempest. Created during Whistle...
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...