Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Thames

James Abbott McNeill Whistler; Printer: Frederick Goulding

Date

1896 (printed 1903–1904)

Medium

Lithotint

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Thames, Whistler's most complex and evocative nocturne, was also the last image he created while living in his suite at the Savoy Hotel in London. While the other lithographs from this time were printed using transfer paper, Whistler drew this image directly on a stone. His printers readied the stone and the washes of lithographic medium (tusche) and delivered them to his hotel. Whistler worked on his balcony for several weeks, using a brush to paint on the tusche washes and then scraping away other areas for highlights. He eventually captured the effects of the silvery mist and delicate lights of the Thames at dusk. The Thames won a medal at the 1900 Paris World's Fair, where the art critic Théodore Duret saw it and remarked, It is infused with transparency and incredible lightness, and I was astonished by it. United States, Americas

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