Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1: Portrait of the Artist's Mother

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Prints and Drawings

1879

Richard Josey (English, 1840-1906)
after James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834-1903)

Charles Augustus Howell, a cunning entrepreneur as well as a friend of Whistler, commissioned Richard Josey to create this mezzotint of Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1 in 1878. Whistler was struggling financially and hoped that the sale of the print would generate funds at the same time that he was using the painting itself as collateral against badly needed loans. A process that reached its apogee in 18th-century England, mezzotint printmaking involves a subtractive process of burnishing away the rough surface of a metal plate gradually to reveal highlights. The subtle gradations of black and gray that Josey could achieve using this medium reinforced Whistler’s harmonic composition of muted tones.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Richard Josey
Title: Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1: Portrait of the Artist's Mother
Place: England (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1891–1906
Medium: Mezzotint in black on cream China paper, laid down on cream wove paper (chine collé)
Dimensions: Image: 31.5 × 35.2 cm (12 7/16 × 13 7/8 in.); Plate: 43.8 × 44.1 cm (17 1/4 × 17 3/8 in.); Primary support: 42.4 × 42.7 cm (16 3/4 × 16 13/16 in.); Secondary support: 53 × 63.8 cm (20 7/8 × 25 1/8 in.)
Credit Line: Clarence Buckingham Collection
Reference Number: 1938.1565
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/28594/manifest.json

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Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1: Portrait of the Artist's Mother

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.