Nocturne: Dance House

James McNeill Whistler

1889 · Etching and drypoint, printed in dark brown ink on medium weight ivory laid paper; fourth state of six (Glasgow) · Drawings and Prints

Densely etched and deeply inked, this work is among Whistler’s finest late etchings. The illuminated windows belong to a tenement that backs onto the Zeedijk canal in Amsterdam’s red-light district. As in his Venetian twilight subjects from the previous decade, Whistler focused on a confluence of water, crumbling architecture, and reflected light but here heightened the darkness and sense of abstraction. In 1890, the artist’s "Amsterdam Set" was exhibited by the dealer Robert Dunthorne in London, then in New York at the Grolier Club.

Artist

James McNeill Whistler

Date

1889

Medium

Etching and drypoint, printed in dark brown ink on medium weight ivory laid paper; fourth state of six (Glasgow)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917