James Abbott McNeill Whistler: Firelight: Joseph Pennell, No.1

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Portrait of the Artist Joseph Pennell a lithograph by James Abbott McNeill Whistler (American, 1834 - 1903). This portrait, one … Read more Portrait of the Artist Joseph Pennell a lithograph by James Abbott McNeill Whistler (American, 1834 - 1903). This portrait, one of 3 Whistler did of Joseph Pennell, was done in 1896 and published as the frontispiece in "Lithography and Lithographers" by Joseph Pennell in 1898 and again in 1908. The stone was effaced and no further posthumous printing was done. There was an edition of 15 impressions pulled by Way in 1897 and signed by Whistler.
1896 - 1908 edition 1 State.
Signed in plate butterfly within image, middle left
transfer lithograph, drawn on white transfer paper with a grained-stone texture.
cream wove vellum
AIC 144; Way 104; Levy 152
Title: Firelight – Joseph Pennell, No. 1

Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)
Date: 1896
Medium: Transfer lithograph (from the original stone); only state (Chicago); printed in black ink on cream laid paper
Dimensions: Image: 9"H x 7"W
Sheet: 15"H x 10"W

James McNeill Whistler is known throughout the art world as a leading portrait painter and a pioneering lithographer, and between the two mediums there was often a clear divide between the formal and the casual - though both were equally intimate. In “Firelight: Joseph Pennell No. 1” the sense of relaxed familiarity could not be more prominent. Unlike his oils, in which the artist’s aim of coaxing forth the subtleties of light and texture imbued the figure with a sense of orthodox objectivity, his lithographic studies often captured a person in a moment of particularly personal expression: concentration, relaxation, daydreaming.

Here, his good friend and artistic peer, with whom he was a part of the Etching Revival of the late 19th century, is seen leaning casually back against his chair with his hands clasped behind his head, legs comfortably crossed. The viewer can imagine the atmosphere of the room, with its pattern of familiar conversation, perhaps a dram of whiskey, and a shared laugh. This is Whistler at his most private, whether intentional or accidental. See less