41. James Abbott McNeill Whistler
(1834-1903)

La Vieille aux Loques

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Whistler, La Vieille aux Loques

La Vieille aux Loques

Etching, 1858, from The French Set, Kennedy 21 iii/iii, 205 x 145 mm. A fine impression on old, thin laid paper with good margins; old hinge staining at the top left corner of the sheet, away from the image and a few creases in the margins. It is difficult to believe that Whistler and Haden on the one hand, and Palmer on the other were working contemporaneously, so different were their aesthetic aims and means. And yet both were enormously influential. Whistler, unlike the other two, evolved, continually re-inventing himself and his style. This is one of his early, realistic works, but it already contains elements of much of his mature work, among them, the compositional framing of the subject within a doorway and the rough sketchiness of the areas outside the main subject. It might be objected that Whistler, being American born and raised, should not be included in a British show. But all his important work was done after he left this country.