1880
ink
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
The Smithy is a 1880 ink by James McNeill Whistler, a Impressionism work, depicting Workshop, held at National Gallery of Art.
A blacksmith works at his forge in a small, dim room. Smoke curls from the fire. Tools hang on the walls. This is a drypoint etching, not a painting. Drypoint means the artist scratches lines into a metal plate with a needle. Ink fills the scratches, then the plate is pressed onto paper. The lines look soft but they’re sharp. See more Whistler, James McNeill etchings at the National Gallery of Art, Washington.
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.
See the richer artist page
