Nocturne

1878

James McNeill Whistler

Associated Names
James McNeill Whistler

Artist, American, 1834 - 1903

The image shows a waterscape with a distant view of a city or industrial area. The horizon line is low in the composition, with outlines of buildings and possibly smokestacks on the skyline. The buildings are blurred and misty, with subtle and smooth brushstrokes creating a dreamlike quality. The color palette is soft grayscale, adding to the tranquil feel. Closest to us, a dark figure is visible on the water surface.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    lithotint in black on wove paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 17.3 × 26.5 cm (6 13/16 × 10 7/16 in.)
    sheet: 19.3 × 27.9 cm (7 5/8 × 11 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.8663

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Stratis & Tedeschi 1998, no. 8, i/ii

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(A.S.W. Rosenbach Gallery); Purchased April 3, 1930 by Lessing Julius Rosenwald [1891-1971], Philadelphia, (Lugt 1760b); gift to National Gallery of Art, 1943.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1931

  • Etchings, Lithographs, Original Drawings, and Autograph Letters by James A. McNeill Whistler, The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1931.

1963

  • American Artists as Print Makers, Westmoreland County Museum of Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, 1963, no. 220.

Bibliography

1896

  • Way, Thomas Robert. Mr. Whistler's Lithographs: The Catalogue. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1896; New York: H. Wunderlich & Co., 1905, no. 5.

1998

  • Stratis, Harriet K., and Martha Tedeschi, eds. The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, vol. 1. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1998, pp. 63-66, no. 8, i/ii.

Wikidata ID

Q65022082

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