Wapping

Wapping shows a riverside scene in the Rotherhithe district of East London, with the Thames crowded with ships and warehouses, a subject that recurs in Whistler's early etchings. The painting grew out of an earlier etching and was the most complex composition he had attempted up to that point. Whistler began it in 1860, while living in Wapping on the opposite bank, and initially conceived it as a conversation between a prostitute and her client. The woman was modelled by Joanna Hiffernan, his frequent collaborator, and one of the men was his friend and fellow artist Alphonse Legros. Later he returned to the canvas and closed the woman's open blouse, making her occupation less obvious. Over time he became more interested in the arrangement of the three figures than in the story. The work was shown at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1864, and Whistler sold it for £350 to Thomas Winans, a regular patron. Today it belongs to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, which acquired it in 1982.

Painter

James McNeill Whistler

Date

1861

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

72 × 102 cm

Museum

Galería Nacional de Arte, Washington, D.C.

Genre

portrait

Share:FacebookWhatsApp