Eye Candy for Today: Whistler’s Black Lion Wharf

Black Lion Wharf, James McNeill Whistler, etching
Black Lion Wharf, James McNeill Whistler, etching

Black Lion Warf, James McNeill Whistler, etching, roughly 6 x 9 inches (15 x 22 cm); link is to the impression in the collection the National Gallery of Art, DC. Their site has both a zoomable and high resolution downloadable version of the image, as does Wikimedia Commons.

I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in person another impression of this etching from the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I’ve taken the liberty of adjusting this image a little lighter to be in keeping with the impression I saw.

In my personal pantheon of great masters of etching, Whistler comes in at number two, after Rembrandt and just before Anders Zorn.

Whistler’s etchings of the wharves and warehouses along London’s River Thames just knock me out — so detailed in places, elegantly simplified in others, precise and yet loose and gestural.

The delicacy of line is a characteristic of etching that no other medium can duplicate, and Whistler was a master at it. When looking at the details from the image (like the figures on the balcony in the images above, bottom), keep in mind the size of the original.

 
FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedin

Sydney Long

Sydney Long, Australian painter
Sydney Long, Australian painter
Sydney Long was an Australian painter and printmaker whose style was influenced by the Australian Heidelberg school, French Barbizon school plein air, Symbolism and Art Nouveau.

 
FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedin

Eye Candy for Today: Claude Mellan single line engraving

Face of Christ on St. Veronica's Cloth, Claude Mellan
Face of Christ on St. Veronica's Cloth (details), Claude Mellan

Face of Christ on St. Veronica’s Cloth (alternately: Sudarium of Saint Veronica), Claude Mellan, engraving on paper, roughly 17 x 13 in. (43 x 31 cm); in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, (click on image to zoom, click small down arrow to download)

This remarkable engraving by 17th century French engraver and painter Claude Mellan consists of a single spiral line!

Beginning on the tip of the nose, the line spirals outward, its passages of increasing or decreasing thickness defining the darks and lights of the image.

To understand how even more remarkable this accomplishment is, see the Met’s page on engraving, and how it’s done.

There is more information on the engraving and the story it illustrates on Google Art Project, and general backstory on the Sudarium on Wikipedia.

 
FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedin

Tavík František Šimon

Tavik Frantisek Simon
Tavik Frantisek Simon

Tavík František Šimon was a printmaker and painter from what is now the Czech Republic who was active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

His etchings, woodcuts, aquatints and mezzotints have a wonderful sense of space and air, and yet often retain the visual charm and wiry strength of line drawings.

 
FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedin

William H. Hays

William H. Hays prints
William H. Hays prints

William H. Hays is a printmaker who works in linocut and woodblock color printmaking methods. These involve either multiple blocks or a reduction process, in which additional areas of the block are cut away for each successive application of color.

There is a blog post on his website that describes his process, and a short video on YouTube with a step-through of stages.

The reduction process process involves a good deal of forethought and planning, as each color must interact with those that have been laid down in previous passes through the press. He uses both high and low chroma passages to give his pieces both visual drama and reflective subtlety.

His subjects are landscapes, and his process encourages him to refine the landscape elements into discrete areas of color and tone which interlock with other areas to produce a harmonious whole.

 
FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedin

Eye Candy for Today: JMW Turner etching and mezzotint

The Woman and Tambourine, etching and mezzotint
The Woman and Tambourine, etching and mezzotint (details)

The Woman and Tambourine (Liber Studiorum, part I, plate 3), Joseph Mallord William Turner and Charles Turner, etching and mezzotint, roughly 7 x 11″ (21 x 29 cm). In the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

This was one of the prints Turner created for a 70 plate “book of studies”, he published in the early 19th century.

It was the practice of many artists at the time to work with printmaking specialists, for whom they would create drawings or watercolors as guidelines.

In this case, JMW Turner made brown watercolors as a guide for tone, and etched the basic drawing into the plate himself, turning to frequent collaborator Charles Turner (no relation) to create the tones in mezzotint. (There is a nice short description of the mezzotint process here.)

 
FacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinFacebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedin