James McNeill Whistler
Nocturne: Furnace1879/1880

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 1

Etching of a dark interior space with dense cross-hatching, centered on a brightly lit doorway through which a small standing figure is visible

Artist or Maker: James McNeill Whistler
United States, 1834-1903
Title: Nocturne: Furnace
Date Made: 1879/1880
Medium: Etching and drypoint
Dimensions: Sheet: 6 3/4 × 9 in. (17.15 × 22.86 cm); Mat: 16 × 22 in. (40.64 × 55.88 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Anita and Julius L. Zelman in honor of the museum's 50th anniversary
Accession Number: M.2015.73.25
Classification: Prints
Collecting Area: Prints and Drawings
Curatorial Notes: Suffused with an aura of mystery, this etching is a study in the formal arrangement of light and shadow. The subject is a glassmith’s foundry, likely situated on the island of Murano in the Venetian Lagoon. Furnaces were prohibited in the city itself for fear of fires but allowed on the island, which was the center of the glassmaking industry. Here, the intense heat conjured by the white-hot flame illuminates the cavernous space, created by the white of the paper, and the solitary figure of the glassmith standing near the forge, shovel in hand. All the elements are rendered as abstract forms, the opening into the building and the smaller window at left functioning as light-filled squares that glow next to the darker, ink-heavy areas achieved with the drypoint technique and a methodical wiping of the plate. At left, the delicate outlines of a gondola’s iron prow-head, or “dolfin,” hover over the water, and a barely sketched figure looks out toward the viewer from the small window above. The schematic handling of the elements and the atmospheric effects undercut attempts to read a narrative into the scene, producing a markedly enigmatic image.

Claudine Dixon

2024

James McNeill Whistler
Nocturne: Furnace1879/1880

On view:

Geffen Galleries, floor 1

Artist or Maker: James McNeill Whistler
United States, 1834-1903
Title: Nocturne: Furnace
Date Made: 1879/1880
Medium: Etching and drypoint
Dimensions: Sheet: 6 3/4 × 9 in. (17.15 × 22.86 cm); Mat: 16 × 22 in. (40.64 × 55.88 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Anita and Julius L. Zelman in honor of the museum's 50th anniversary
Accession Number: M.2015.73.25
Classification: Prints
Collecting Area: Prints and Drawings
Curatorial Notes: Suffused with an aura of mystery, this etching is a study in the formal arrangement of light and shadow. The subject is a glassmith’s foundry, likely situated on the island of Murano in the Venetian Lagoon. Furnaces were prohibited in the city itself for fear of fires but allowed on the island, which was the center of the glassmaking industry. Here, the intense heat conjured by the white-hot flame illuminates the cavernous space, created by the white of the paper, and the solitary figure of the glassmith standing near the forge, shovel in hand. All the elements are rendered as abstract forms, the opening into the building and the smaller window at left functioning as light-filled squares that glow next to the darker, ink-heavy areas achieved with the drypoint technique and a methodical wiping of the plate. At left, the delicate outlines of a gondola’s iron prow-head, or “dolfin,” hover over the water, and a barely sketched figure looks out toward the viewer from the small window above. The schematic handling of the elements and the atmospheric effects undercut attempts to read a narrative into the scene, producing a markedly enigmatic image.

Claudine Dixon

2024