19. James Abbott McNeill Whistler
(1834-1903)
Black Lion Wharf

(click on image to print)
Whistler, Black Lion Wharf

Black Lion Wharf

Etching, 1859, from 16 Etchings of the Thames, 160 x 225 mm., Kennedy 44 iii/iii. The year 1859 saw both Whistler and Haden frequently on the Thames, Haden upstream doing country landscapes, Whistler downstream etching magical images of the gritty dock areas and the men who worked there. Black Lion Wharf is one of the best and best- known of those etchings, which were avant-garde in so many ways that it would take far more space than that available here to discuss them. A superb impression with light plate tone on thin laid paper with good margins, The impression is clearly an early one (the Thames etchings were in great demand and were still printed well after their initial issue), rich black with a fine range of tone, but with every detail printing sharply, the plate tone simply adding warmth.