Annie

Annie Harriet Haden|James McNeill Whistler

1858 · Etching on tan (darkened) chine mounted on white wove paper (chine collé); fourth state of seven (Glasgow) · Drawings and Prints

During a stay in London with his sister Deborah Delano Haden while recuperating from a fall, Whistler made this etching of his niece Annie. His brother-in-law, Seymour Haden, a gifted printmaker, encouraged the artist’s first serious efforts in the medium. Here, the emphasis on alternating lights and darks, and the omission of the figure’s legs, demonstrate a greater interest in abstract patterning than portraiture. Whistler gave this print to Thomas Winans, the Baltimore friend who funded his move to Paris in 1855.

Artist

Annie Harriet Haden|James McNeill Whistler

Date

1858

Medium

Etching on tan (darkened) chine mounted on white wove paper (chine collé); fourth state of seven (Glasgow)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Margaret C. Buell, Helen L. King, and Sybil A. Walk, 1970