1858
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
La Vieille aux Loques is a 1858 ink by James McNeill Whistler, a Impressionism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows a hunched figure wrapped in heavy, rumpled clothes, sitting on a low stool. The person’s hands rest on their knees, and their head is covered loosely with a cloth. Around them, a cluttered room has shelves packed with jars, bottles, and odd objects—some stacked crookedly, others barely visible in the dim light. The lines are scratchy and uneven, giving everything a rough, textured feel. The artist used a method called etching to create these deep, grainy lines. The paper looks worn, like it’s been handled a lot, which matches the scene’s worn-down mood. Next, look up etching to see how artists carve into metal plates to make prints like this.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom.
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