Nocturne

Object Details

• Artist

  James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

• Edition/State

  2, 1

• Label

  Nocturne is a view of the Thames from Whistler's studio in Chelsea. Whistler did not reverse the drawing, so the printed image is backwards, but many of his contemporaries would have recognized the industrial landscape of Battersea, which included the lighted clock tower of the Morgan Crucible Company, the factory smokestacks, the triangular profile of the slag heap, and the spire of Battersea Church. Whistler used broad washes and the cool tones of the paper to create a powerfully moody print that can hold its own with the painted nocturnes.

  Whistler lithographs are identified by "C." numbers as described in The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998). This print is C.8, one of two impressions. See also F1905.208.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Texture of Night: James McNeill Whistler (June 6, 2009 to July 25, 2010)

  Whistler and the Thames (December 17, 2000 to June 17, 2001)

• Origin

  United States

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1870s

• Name

  Whistler, James McNeill

• Place

  United States

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Boats and boating, Art, Night, Moon, American Art, Outer space, Nocturne

• Culture

  Americans

• Object Type

  Prints