The Unsafe Tenement, One of the 'Twelve Etchings from Nature,' or the 'French Se / James McNeill Whistler
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About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1954/1.324
- Title
- The Unsafe Tenement, One of the 'Twelve Etchings from Nature,' or the 'French Se
- Artist
- James McNeill Whistler
- Artist Nationality
- American
- Artist Life Dates
- 1834-1903
- Medium and Support
- etching, printed in black ink on Japan paper, laid down on white wove plate paper
- Object Creation Date
- 1858
- Credit Line
- Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker
- Inscription
- On the plate, l.r.: Whistler On the plate, l.l.: Imp. Delatre. Rue St. Jacques. 171. Collection (no mark): This set is from the collection of the late Sir F. Seymour Haden's brother.
- Dimensions
- 24.7 cm x 32.5 cm (9 3/4 in. x 12 13/16 in.)
- Century
- 19th century
- Physical Description
- A ramshackle, half-timbered house fills most of the plate. Seen from an angle, the view of the house is accented by the sharp shadows created by dormer windows and a patchwork of overhanging roof. In the foreground, at the left, a dog is curled up sleeping in the sun; next to him leaning against the house is a pitchfork. At the center foreground, two children speak to one another through a partially open doorway or gate in the yard.
- Subject Matter
- This view of a rustic farmhouse carries a note of menace: Whistler used the chiaroscuro of the dark shadows and brilliantly lit exterior walls and vacant but open doors and windows to heighten the sense of abandonment. In an earlier state of the plate, a woman stood in the yard with the children and the sleeping dog; the artist burnished out the woman and replaced her with the pitchfork. Another ominous aspect to this image is Whistler's decision to fill the sky with horizontal lines, thus imparting a claustrophobic or oppressive atmosphere to the plate.
- Secondary Keywords
- animals
- architecture
- figures
- hay
- mammals
- people and occupations
- the natural world
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 1351 x 949
- File Size
- 315 KB
- Record
- 1954/1.324
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1954-sl-1.324/1954_1.324.jpg
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Related Links
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- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1954-SL-1.324:1954_1.324.JPG
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- Full citation
-
"The Unsafe Tenement, One of the 'Twelve Etchings from Nature,' or the 'French Se; James McNeill Whistler." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1954-sl-1.324/1954_1.324.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 28, 2024.
