Entrance Gate

1887

James McNeill Whistler

Associated Names
James McNeill Whistler

Artist, American, 1834 - 1903

The image features a pencil sketch viewed head-on, with a tall structure and ornate entrance as the central focus. The horizon is not distinctly identifiable. The lines are delicate and lightly applied, giving the sketch a tentative and ethereal quality. The color palette is monochromatic, relying solely on the contrast between the soft grey pencil lines and the cream paper. Various architectural details create interest beyond the main structure, with small, indistinct figures depicted closest to us. The composition conveys a sense of elegant simplicity, with ample negative space around the sketched elements.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    lithograph in black on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 14.8 × 12 cm (5 13/16 × 4 3/4 in.)
    sheet: 31.2 × 20.2 cm (12 5/16 × 7 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.8675

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Stratis & Tedeschi 1998, no. 20

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

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.

Bibliography

1896

  • Way, Thomas Robert. Mr. Whistler's Lithographs: The Catalogue. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1896; New York: H. Wunderlich & Co., 1905, no. 16.

1998

  • Stratis, Harriet K., and Martha Tedeschi, eds. The Lithographs of James McNeill Whistler, vol. 1. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 1998, pp. 118-119, no. 20.

Wikidata ID

Q65022094

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