Tiger Ready to Spring

From the Art Institute of Chicago record

In contrast to the many resting tigers depicted by Delacroix in paintings, lithographs, and etchings, this one stands upright on its feet, tense and snarling at a challenger to the left. This is a rare instance of the artist’s use of the cliché verre technique, in which lines were etched or drawn on a glass plate to make a photographically produced image. Here the sparely delineated strokes imbue the wiry cat with an almost electric sense of anticipation and compact power.