Date: Fri 17-Sep-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Wesleyan-Davison-Whistler

Full Text:

Wesleyan's Davison Art Center Exhibits Whistler Etchings

(with 3 cuts)

MIDDLETOWN, CONN. -- Etchings by the American expatriate artist James McNeill

Whistler are featured in an exhibition of prints by French, English and

American artists active in the Nineteenth Century etching revival. In addition

to superb impressions of Whistler's etchings, the exhibition includes works by

Whistler's English brother-in-law, Seymour Haden; the French Barbizon

painter-etchers Jean-Francois Millet and Charles Daubigny; and the American

etchers Thomas Moran and Joseph Pennell. The exhibition at the Davison Art

Center closes on October 17.

A brilliant artist and fascinating personality, Whistler was strongly

influenced by the etchings he saw in France in the 1850s. He played a central

role in the English etching revival and greatly influenced American collectors

and painter-etchers, who were late arrivals to the international etching

movement. Whistler's work commanded respect from a wide-ranging audience

including Charles Baudelaire, who described the artist's prints as the

"profound and intricate poetry of a vast capital."

The impressions of Whistler's etchings shown in this exhibition all came from

the collection of George W. Davison (1872-1953, BA Wesleyan 1892), a New York

banker, discerning print collector, and benefactor of the Davison Art Center.

It was primarily through the generosity of Mr Davison that the collection has

such outstanding holdings of prints by Whistler as well as by his English and

European forerunners.

Whistler and Haden were among the most important figures associated with the

etching revival in England during the second half of the Nineteenth Century.

Both men emphasized the importance of original etching as opposed to

illustration, an idea which had a lasting effect on the work of their younger

American contemporaries.

While the etching revival began somewhat earlier in England, the movement in

France enjoyed a much wider base and exerted a far greater influence on the

medium. The Barbizon painters were among the earliest French artists to revive

etching. On view are works by Daubigny, Millet, and Henri Rousseau. Soon other

French artists, including the brilliant and eccentric Charles Meryon, began

making etchings. Selections from Meryon's "Eaux-Fortes sur Paris (Etchings of

Paris)," the artist's personal and somewhat morbid interpretations of the city

of Paris, are included in the exhibition.

In the 1870s, etching was promoted in America by societies and clubs which,

following Whistler and Haden, stressed the importance of etching as a creative

medium. Painter-etchers including Moran, Pennell, Julian Alden Weir and John

Henry Twachtman produced outstanding etchings and were influential in

educating a new, younger generation of artists in the medium.

The Davison Art Center is at 301 High Street. Telephone, 860/685-2500.