1880
ink
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Turkeys is a 1880 ink by James McNeill Whistler, a Impressionism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows a man holding a long stick, herding two turkeys in a fenced yard. The walls and fence lines are drawn with quick, light strokes. In the background, a house and a few scattered figures appear, but they’re barely sketched in. The artist used a sharp tool to scratch into the metal plate, leaving dark lines where the ink stayed. This is how the turkeys and fence look so precise while the rest fades into rough lines. Next, look up etching to see how artists like this made prints before photography.
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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