The Tyresmith
Medium
lithograph in black on wove paper
Dimensions
image: 17 × 17.5 cm (6 11/16 × 6 7/8 in.) sheet: 28.8 × 22.1 cm (11 5/16 × 8 11/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.8687
Art Historical Context
James McNeill Whistler’s *The Tyresmith* (1890) is a striking lithograph in black ink on wove paper, the essence of everyday labor with the artist’s signature subtlety. Measuring just 17 × 17.5 cm in its image area, this intimate print belongs to the National Gallery of Art’s Rosenwald Collection Whistler, the American-born painter and printmaker renowned for his Aesthetic movement ideals—“art for art’s sake”—turned to lithography in the 1880s and 1890s, producing over 100 works that showcased his fluid line work and tonal mastery. Lithography allowed Whistler to draw spontaneously directly o...
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...