Art Institute of Chicago

Laburnums and Battersea

Theodore Roussel

Date

1889/90 and 1898

Medium

Etching and drypoint in black, with selective wiping of plate tone, on ivory laid paper

Culture

England

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

For his early prints, Roussel adapted James McNeill Whistler’s methods to express his own interest in documenting the local scene, and Laburnums and Battersea is a striking example of the older artist’s influence. Roussel developed his plate through multiple states, used a variety of ink colors, and employed selective wiping to suggest differing effects of light, water, and mist. He also chose an upright format and a larger scale than his other prints depicting Chelsea and the Battersea factories on the opposite bank of the Thames River.

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