The Fish Shop, Busy Chelsea (Fish Shop, Chelsea)

James McNeill Whistler

1886–87 · Etching; second state of two (Glasgow) · Drawings and Prints

After returning to London from Venice, Whistler made a number of prints devoted to the shop fronts of small vendors operating in old buildings. Here, the windows, awnings, and piled counters of Elizabeth Maunder’s fish shop on Cheyne Walk, near the artist’s Chelsea residence, are used to develop an abstracted pattern of lights and darks. Supported by the architecture, the horizontal arrangement is punctuated by pedestrians and shop assistants, some standing within shadowed doorways, others on the brightly lit sidewalk.

Artist

James McNeill Whistler

Date

1886–87

Medium

Etching; second state of two (Glasgow)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011