Loading

Grey and Silver: Old Battersea Reach

James Abbott McNeill Whistler1863

The Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, United States

James McNeill Whistler painted marine subjects throughout his career. For several years beginning in 1855, the expatriate American artist divided his time between London and Paris; in the latter, he was exposed to the bold realism and thickly impasted surfaces of the paintings of Gustave Courbet. The older artist’s influence shaped Whistler’s depiction of the Thames River, a subject that frequently appeared in his work after he moved to London in 1863. In this painting, he focused on the river’s industrial nature—boats and barges, laboring men, and smoking chimneys—which featured so largely in urban life. Yet despite the realism of the subject, Whistler unified the composition with deft brushwork and a subtle palette of brown and gray that anticipates his later interest in delicate tonal harmonies.

Show lessRead more
  • Title: Grey and Silver: Old Battersea Reach
  • Creator: James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903)
  • Creator Lifespan: 1834/1903
  • Date Created: 1863
  • Physical Dimensions: 50.8 × 68.6 cm (20 × 27 in.)
  • Type: Painting
  • External Link: The Art Institute of Chicago
  • Media: Oil on canvas
  • Credit Line: The Art Institute of Chicago, gift of Honoré and Potter Palmer, 1922.449
  • Artist: James McNeill Whistler (American, 1834–1903)
The Art Institute of Chicago

Get the app

Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more

Home
Discover
Play
Nearby
Favorites