Whistler with a hat / James McNeill Whistler
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About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1954/1.341
- Title
- Whistler with a hat
- Artist
- James McNeill Whistler
- Artist Nationality
- American
- Artist Life Dates
- 1834-1903
- Medium and Support
- drypoint, printed in black ink on laid paper
- Object Creation Date
- 1859
- Credit Line
- Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker
- Inscription
- Signed and dated on the plate, l.r.: Whistler. 1859. Notation in red ink, lower margin: 363. Collector's mark, l.l. and on verso at l.r.: Collection: Sir James Thomas Knowles (Lugt 1546)
- Dimensions
- 29.6 cm x 22.1 cm (11 5/8 in. x 8 11/16 in.)
- Century
- 19th century
- Physical Description
- A man with curly hair and a moustache is shown looking at the viewer. He is wearing a dark, broad-brimmed hat at a slight angle, a ribbon hanging over the brim on the right side. His hands are barely indicated, but he is holding paper in his left hand and writing or drawing with his right hand.
- Subject Matter
- Although Whistler acquired a reputation for being a café bon vivant and someone who lounged around rather than working hard, Whistler was, in fact, quite serious about his art and was a prolific draftsman. Here he is seen in his characteristic "American" style hat carefully scrutinizing his own features.
- Whistler was always very conscious of the example of Rembrandt and this etching and drypoint shows the young Whistler exploring self-portraiture--a subject to which Rembrandt returned many times. It also is an example of an approach to image-making that Whistler only put to words around 1880, known as his "secret of drawing." He said that the proper way to make a drawing is to first seize the chief object of interest and draw that completely. Then secondary objects can be more summarily drawn. In this way, the work is always "complete" from the start, regardless of how thoroughly the subsidiary elements are completed. The most important motif is his own features--these are drawn fully while his shoulders, hands, etc. are rendered more summarily.
- Primary Keywords
- hats
- 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
- 961 x 1315
- File Size
- 109 KB
- Record
- 1954/1.341
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1954-sl-1.341/1954_1.341.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
Portfolios
- In public portfolios
IIIF
- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1954-SL-1.341:1954_1.341.JPG
Cite this Item
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- Full citation
-
"Whistler with a hat; James McNeill Whistler." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1954-sl-1.341/1954_1.341.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 19, 2024.
