Eagle Wharf (Tyzac, Whiteley & Co.), One of the ‘Sixteen Etchings,’ or the ‘Tham
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Description
Eagle Wharf (Tyzac, Whiteley & Co.), from Sixteen Etchings, or the Thames Set
1859
Etching on laid tissue
Only state (Kennedy 41)
Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker, 1954/1.336
Whistler’s prints along the Pool of London record an area that was slated for demolition; the stench of this region was striking, and as part of an urban upgrading, new embankments were to replace its picturesque docks and warehouses. The firm of Tyzack, Whiteley and Co., legible on the doorway, was listed as “patent windlass, chain cable and anchor makers” and was a purveyor of essential materials for the commercial life of the wharves.
In several of the prints in the Thames Set, a local worker or inhabitant sits prominently in a small boat or skiff at the bottom of the image (see also The Pool). Along with the wiry, linear treatment of the scene, here Whistler has used the untouched expanse of water, which is matched by the expanse of sky, to flatten the composition—a technique that reflects his deepening understanding and appreciation of the rendering of space in both Japanese prints and early photography, in which the light-filled skies were inevitably overexposed and thus appeared as blank expanses. Whistler was most likely introduced to photography by Seymour Haden and his partner James Traer, both of whom were amateur photographers.
Subject Matter:
Many of Whistler's views of the Thames show the unsavory and dilapidated buildings around the Pool of London where the commercial hub of London's shipping business flourished. These regions, including Wapping and Rotherthite, were slated for demolition as part of an urban renewal project. Here Whistler was responding to Charles Baudelaire's challenge to artists that they find subjects for their art drawn from the "heriosm of modern life."
Physical Description:
This plate shows a view of docks, businesses that serve shipping, and numerous ships, some pulled up in dry dock. In the foreground a low boat (a barge or lighter) angles into the space, on which a man in a cap is seated, hands on his knees, looking at the viewer.
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