Two Female Heads and Standing Figure (from Sketches on the Coast Survey Plate)
1854–55
Medium
Etching; proof impression of the only state (Glasgow 1); this is an irregular fragment cut from the upper portion of "Sketches on the Coast Survey Plate" (Kennedy no. 1) by Whistler and mounted on a board with six other related fragments. Cited by Glasgow as the earliest known impression.
Dimensions
Sheet: 1 3/8 x 1 3/4 in. (3.5 x 4.4 cm) (fragment cut from the upper portion of "Sketches on the Coast Survey Plate")
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Margaret C. Buell, Helen L. King, and Sybil A. Walk, 1970
Accession Number
1970.121.9
Tags
Art Historical Context
James McNeill Whistler’s *Two Female Heads and Standing* is a captivating fragment from his very first etching plate, *Sketches on the Survey Plate* (Kennedy no. 1), created around 1854–55. At just 20 years old, the young American artist was employed by the U.S. Coast Geodetic Survey in Washington, D.C., he sketched coastal landscapes and figures. This tiny proof impression—measuring a mere 1 3/8 x 1 3/4 inches—captures two delicate female heads and a standing figure from the plate’s upper portion, preserved as an irregular cutout mounted with related fragments. Etching allowed Whistler to ex...
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...