Corte del Paradiso - James McNeill Whistler

Walter Aitken, Margaret Day Blake, Harold Joachim Memorial, Celia and David Hilliard, Julius Lewis, and Sara R. Shorey endowments; Sandra L. Grung Fund; purchased with funds provided by William Vance and Pamela Kelley Armour; through prior acquisitions of Katherine Kuh

American Art Modern Art Paintings Prints

"Corte del Paradiso" by James McNeill Whistler (1880) Pastel and black chalk on brown wove paper with fibrous inclusions.

Commentary

"Corte del Paradiso" by James McNeill Whistler (1880) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. Themes to notice include pastel. This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings collection. James McNeill Whistler is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: James McNeill Whistler American, 1834-1903. The work is cataloged within a United States cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as pastel, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Pastel and black chalk on brown wove paper with fibrous inclusions) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (30.1 × 14.9 cm (11 7/8 × 5 7/8 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include pastel. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/158382

Sources: Art Institute of Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago / Public Records; Art Institute of Chicago Collection Data