DOI Heft:
No.127 (October, 1903)
DOI Artikel:Way, T. R.: Mr. Whistler as a lithographer
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19880#0031
James McNeill Whistler
conceived it. The other unpublished drawing,
called The Tall Bridge, is almost unknown, existing
now in but about a dozen proofs ; it is a drawing of
old Battersea Bridge, very Japanese in arrangement
and extremely beautiful in quality. At the time,
1878, when Whistler was first working, transfer
paper was very little used for chalk work, and he
drew entirely on the stone. Its weight proved no
obstacle at all. My father accompanied him to
Limehouse to look after the preparations for the
making of a litho-tint which is well known ; and
they sat out on a barge in the river whilst he
made the drawing. This drawing needed much
retouching when proved; and I remember that,
whilst working on the many little figures which it
contains, he stood by the office window noticing
the people passing along the street, his custom
being almost invariably to refer to nature whilst at
work on figures, In contrast with these subjects
may be mentioned the beautiful Nocturne, of which
an excellent reproduction was printed in The
Studio of January 15th, 1896, and which, drawn
at one effort, produced perfect prints from the
first, needing no retouching. It was at one time
decided to publish a series of prints, to be
issued monthly, and the Limehouse and Nocturne
were so published, but the response of the public
was not encouraging and the project was dropped.
These two were afterwards issued with four others
in a brown-paper cover, under the title of Notes, in
1887. From this time onwards Mr. Whistler con-
stantly worked in lithography, either on stone or
transfer paper, mostly the latter, but in many
instances so elaborating the drawings after they
had been transferred to the stone that a proof of
the first state is but a mere ghost of the finished
print. This was particularly the case with some
few of those drawn upon the thin transparent
paper already mentioned; one of its advantages
being that the drawing can be laid down upon a
grained stone with but little risk of the lines being
broken up, and it can then be worked upon after-
wards, although my own feeling is that its draw-
backs more than neutralize these advantages.
The two very beautiful prints The Forge and The
Smith of the Place du Dragon were produced in
this manner, and their mysterious depths were
obtained with stump-work on the stone, much as
he would have used dry point to obtain a similar
quality in an etching, whilst in one of the forge
subjects done at Lyme Regis, entitled The Black-
smith, a similar depth and richness was obtained
with the point only.
In looking through a large number of the prints,
however, it will be at once apparent that its
capacity for rendering the most tender and delicate
effect was lithography's principal attraction for him.
The drawings in which he has needed to use
'THE ANGRY SEA " BY J. MCNEILL WHISTLER
(By permission of J. J. Cowan, Esq.)
14
conceived it. The other unpublished drawing,
called The Tall Bridge, is almost unknown, existing
now in but about a dozen proofs ; it is a drawing of
old Battersea Bridge, very Japanese in arrangement
and extremely beautiful in quality. At the time,
1878, when Whistler was first working, transfer
paper was very little used for chalk work, and he
drew entirely on the stone. Its weight proved no
obstacle at all. My father accompanied him to
Limehouse to look after the preparations for the
making of a litho-tint which is well known ; and
they sat out on a barge in the river whilst he
made the drawing. This drawing needed much
retouching when proved; and I remember that,
whilst working on the many little figures which it
contains, he stood by the office window noticing
the people passing along the street, his custom
being almost invariably to refer to nature whilst at
work on figures, In contrast with these subjects
may be mentioned the beautiful Nocturne, of which
an excellent reproduction was printed in The
Studio of January 15th, 1896, and which, drawn
at one effort, produced perfect prints from the
first, needing no retouching. It was at one time
decided to publish a series of prints, to be
issued monthly, and the Limehouse and Nocturne
were so published, but the response of the public
was not encouraging and the project was dropped.
These two were afterwards issued with four others
in a brown-paper cover, under the title of Notes, in
1887. From this time onwards Mr. Whistler con-
stantly worked in lithography, either on stone or
transfer paper, mostly the latter, but in many
instances so elaborating the drawings after they
had been transferred to the stone that a proof of
the first state is but a mere ghost of the finished
print. This was particularly the case with some
few of those drawn upon the thin transparent
paper already mentioned; one of its advantages
being that the drawing can be laid down upon a
grained stone with but little risk of the lines being
broken up, and it can then be worked upon after-
wards, although my own feeling is that its draw-
backs more than neutralize these advantages.
The two very beautiful prints The Forge and The
Smith of the Place du Dragon were produced in
this manner, and their mysterious depths were
obtained with stump-work on the stone, much as
he would have used dry point to obtain a similar
quality in an etching, whilst in one of the forge
subjects done at Lyme Regis, entitled The Black-
smith, a similar depth and richness was obtained
with the point only.
In looking through a large number of the prints,
however, it will be at once apparent that its
capacity for rendering the most tender and delicate
effect was lithography's principal attraction for him.
The drawings in which he has needed to use
'THE ANGRY SEA " BY J. MCNEILL WHISTLER
(By permission of J. J. Cowan, Esq.)
14