Yellow House, Lannion
James Abbott McNeill Whistler
Description
Yellow House, Lannion
1893
Transfer lithograph with scraping, printed in five colors
Third state of three (Way 101; Chicago 67)
Bequest of Margaret Watson Parker, 1954/1.453
Whistler’s handful of color lithographs—all executed in France and printed by Henri Belfond, one of the leading printers in late nineteenth-century Paris—have a subtle quality that stands in contrast to the bold prints of his French contemporaries working in the medium. Color printing is a complex process requiring multiple stones: a keystone with the main drawing and separate stones for the various colors. Whistler collaborated with Belfond to develop this color lithograph from a keystone drawing he had executed in Brittany. Belfond created an additional five stones—one for each color seen in the print—each of which was printed separately over the lithographic matrix of the keystone. In order to achieve the muted palette of this print he used a grey-black ink for the keystone to soften the contours and also diluted the intensity of the colors. Whistler’s color prints build on harmonies of tones and hues gauged to complement one another; here, of the five colors in the final print—green, yellow, grey, medium grey, and greenish gray—three are versions of grey.
Whistler had a falling out with Belfond later in 1893 after Belfond sold an impression of Yellow House given to him by the artist. As a result of this breach, Whistler no longer had access to the stones, and not many impressions were printed; many of those that were remained in Belfond’s possession. This fine impression came from Queen Victoria’s collection at Windsor Castle.
Subject Matter:
Whistler executed only a handful of color lithographs, all drawn during his time living in Paris and printed by Henri Belfond. Whistler worked very closely with Belfond to vary the colors, matching the hues to the tonalities of the different papers used to print this work.
Physical Description:
A three-story house fills nearly the entire sheet. On the ground level, a stone arched entrance on the left is flanked by a window with green shutters; on the second level, rusticated stone the defines the vertical sides of the buildings is indicated, along with three small windows; the third level projects forward, corbels below and shadows indicating the overhanging top floor; a shingled roof with a dormer window completes the building. Summary indications of the flanking buildings are suggested. Two young women or girls stand at the lower left corner of the composition.
Usage Rights:
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