Whistler & Company: The Etching Revival

Exhibition Website

Aug 23 2019 - Nov 10 2019

Expatriate American artist, James Abbot McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) played an essential role in the etching revival of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The exhibition Whistler & Company includes nearly a dozen works by Whistler accompanied by more than 50 etchings by some of his most accomplished American and European contemporaries. .

The etching revival of the second half of the 19th century took hold in France, England and the United States. Artists set out to reestablish etching—the art of incising lines with an etching needle into a thin copper plate which was then inked and pressed into paper with the help of a printing press to create impressions—as an art form that could stand on its own. Inspired by Rembrandt, and the old masters, practitioners created remarkable original and expressive compositions that gained popularity with refined collectors and the broader public.

The exhibition includes nearly a dozen works by Whistler, whose gritty images of the River Thames, views of Venice, and Parisian scenes revived, at least in part, the art of etching in the 19th century. Other artists who participated in the etching revival include Francis Seymour Haden, James McBey, Edwin Edwards, David Young Cameron, Muirhead Bone, Mortimer Menpes, Charles Meryon, Maxime Lalanne, Joseph Pennell, and Frank Duveneck, among others. 

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website 

  • Works on Paper
  • 19th Century
  • James McNeill Whistler

Exhibition Venues & Dates