Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

Abstract

Several of Whistler's paintings were
examjned and, where possible, ana­
lyzed; specific examples of pigment
and media analyzes are given. Litera­
ture sources were searched for refer­
ences to the artist's materials and
methods. This paper describes Whis­
tler's interest in texture, his use of
dark gray grounds, his limited color
ranges and careful preparation of the
palette, his frequent erasure of his
unsuccessful work, and details of his
studio practice and portrait tech­
niques. Probable changes in the
appearance of his work are also dis­
cussed.

F�eurc 1. James Whistler, Note in Red:

The Siesta, 1883-1884. Oil 011 palle/.

Daniel j. Terra Collcetioll.

186

Art fo r Art's Sake: The Materials and Te chniques of

James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)

Stephen Hackney

Conservation Department

Tate Gallery

Millbank

London SW1P 4RG

United Kingdom

Introduction

Several of Whistler's oil paintings were studied in detail; works in the Ta te

Gallery, in particular, were analyzed and examined before conservation treat­

ment using a fu ll range of analytical techniques. Paintings in the H unterian

Art Gallery, Glasgow fr om the Birnie Philip bequest were also examined in

detail and in some cases analyzed (1). Paintings in the National Gallery of

Art, Washington were examined in conjunction with their conservation rec­

ords. Several other works were examined or viewed in isolation; finally, the

paintings in the Whistler Exhibition (1994) were inspected on arrival at the

Tate Gallery (2). It has therefore been possible to make some interesting

observations about Whistler's materials and techniques, based on detailed ex­

aminations of selected works and supported by the wider survey, and to com­

pare them with the literature on Whistler's methods. This interpretation may

be useful in understanding the present condition of his works and in helping

to decide appropriate conservation treatments. It is also of general interest fo r

the viewer wishing to appreciate a particular painting.

Supports

From the 1880s, Whistler frequently carried small panels fo r sketching, fo ­

cusing particularly on street scenes, views of the sea, and figure studies. Some

of his nocturnes and early studies were also on larger panels. The scale of

these works was small because he painted distant views approximately the

size that they appeared to him. For his major finished paintings and portraits,

however, he worked on canvas, which provided a texture he liked. He often

chose quite heavy canvases and applied thin grounds in order to preserve

their texture. On other occasions he might paint on a fine canvas, then have

the painting glue-lined onto a coarser one very soon after completion or

even during the time of painting. He did this quite deliberately and there is

evidence that he wished to imitate the lined appearance of old master paint­

ings (3). His later work, such as Mother of Pearl and Silver: The Andalusian

(1888-1900), illustrates this desire to express the canvas texture.

Grounds

Whistler's grounds were crucial to his methods. He came to London shortly

after the Pre-Raphaelites had taken the use of smooth white grounds and

intense color to extremes; some of his early grounds appear to be the white,

commercially available grounds of the mid-century. Ye t Whistler's training in

Paris with Charles Gleyre (an academician who specialized in subjects taken

from his travels in the Middle East), his early interest in the methods of the

French Realists, and his experience with pastel, etching, and drypoint were

more important influences. Whistler frequently applied a light gray impri­

matura of oil paint on top of the ground to allow him to paint directly in a

mid-ground technique. This technique is most easily observed in his small

sketches on panel, fo r example, Note in Red: The Siesta (1883-884) (Fig. 1).

After 1871 he increasingly used darker gray, exploiting the ground to develop

fu ll chiaroscuro effects in his later works, often setting his figure against a

dark background. A photograph of his studio reveals that he had a black cloth

Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, alld Studio Practice