Old Battersea Bridge

1879

James Abbott McNeill Whistler American, 1834 - 1903

Not On View

Old Battersea Bridge: 1 of Collection Gallery

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

The wharves, warehouses, alehouses, fishermen, and dockworkers of the Thames, along with the river and its many bridges, were important subjects for Whistler. The Old Battersea Bridge was a favorite, and Whistler depicted it frequently in drawings, etchings, lithographs, lithotints, paintings, and even on a wall of his house near the river. The eighteenth-century wood bridge was slated to be replaced with a new stone bridge in the early 1880s, so this print is a kind of memorial. Though the view was taken from life, the composition incorporates features of Japanese woodcuts, including a low vantage point, a high horizon, a framed view, and large empty areas. Whistler was a master printer who constantly experimented with paper, ink, and printing pressure to achieve different effects. Here he left a thin film of ink on the plate to create a sense of the flowing river surface. From Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 89 (2015)

Title Old Battersea Bridge

Artwork Date 1879

Artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler

Life Dates 1834 - 1903

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Etching and drypoint printed in brown-black ink on antique laid paper

Dimensions Sheet (slightly irreg): 12 1/8 × 15 1/8 inches (30.8 × 38.4 cm) Plate: 8 × 11 9/16 inches (20.3 × 29.4 cm)

Classification Prints

Department Prints, Drawings & Photographs

Credit Museum Purchase, with funds from Sidney and Robert Katzman Foundation in honor of Dr. Irving Burton's 90th Birthday

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2008.4

Markings

Signed Signed, in plate, lower right, with Whistler's butterfly monogram; signed, in graphite, lower right, with Whistler's butterfly monogram, followed by "imp."

Inscriptions inscribed, bottom left margin in graphite and erased: Battersea Bridge Inscribed, top left margin in graphite and erased: 13 Gold Flat inscribed, verso, in pencil, B 2889 (dealer's stock number).

Marks Watermark: Arms of Amsterdam with countermark 'RK'

Provenance

by 1994, George S. van Houten (Netherlands)

May 3-4, 2007, sold by (Sotheby's, New York, USA), auction, Prints: Including the Whistler Collection of George S. Van Houten

(C. G. Boerner, LLC)

2008-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

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We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Old Battersea Bridge, 1879, etching and drypoint printed in brown-black ink on antique laid paper. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, with funds from Sidney and Robert Katzman Foundation in honor of Dr. Irving Burton's 90th Birthday, 2008.4.