PRINTS
Whistler, James McNeill
U.S. (1834 - 1903)
Two Doorways
1879 - 1880
Etching and drypoint on laid paper
7 15/16 x 11 7/16 in. (20.2 x 29 cm) plate mark size
Stimson Collection, gift of Dorothy Stimson Bullitt
FA 77.179

Whistler worked directly from nature in these etchings, setting out each morning in his gondola, working on several plates a day. These works display a directness of observation and a sensitivity to light and water which contributes to their ethereal quality. In Venice, Whistler continued to explore themes and variations which had preoccupied him for years. He was not interested in subject as an end in itself and never reversed the plates. His interest lay more in the purely abstracted elements of the composition. He conducted chiaroscuro experiments using dark on light and light on dark by silhouetting light figures against dark doorways set in light walls as seen here. ---Label copy for James McNeill Whistler: A Dreamer Apart, Reed Gallery, March 27 - May 30,1990.

When Whistler was sent to Venice in 1879 on a commission from the Fine Art Society in London, he was thoroughly captivated by its endless visual stimulus. He stayed over a year and produced some fifty etchings, ninety pastels and at least a dozen paintings. In this work he sought to uncover a side of Venice unknown to most of his audience.Two Doorways revels in an interaction of opposites: a pair of doors, one open and in shadow and another, closed and part of a larger architectural framework. With short strokes of the etching needle, Whistler conveys the crumbling textures of the curving wall, reflected in the water of the canal below. As the eye progresses from one door to the next, it follows the building’s curve to find a sharp edge of contrast to the hazy canal and distant bridge.

Born in Massachusetts but raised in Russia and educated in England, Whistler found early success as a painter. He learned etching as a U.S. Navy cartographer. A dandy, a wit and a challenge to his colleagues, Whistler is known for his original style that stood apart from the art of his day, the Barbizon School, Impressionism and academic realism. -- Label copy for Unpacking the Collection: Collecting Prints, April 10 to May 15, 1997, and October 16, 1997, to February 28, 1998.