Whistler exhibition at Port Sunlight’s Lady Lever art gallery

Jul 15 2009 by Nick Moreton, Birkenhead News

A RARE collection of etchings by one of 19th Century America’s foremost artists is on display at Port Sunlight’s Lady Lever Art Gallery.

Until September 20, the sometimes sketchy, sometimes exquisitely detailed etchings of James McNeill Whistler will be on show, released by custodians Hunterian Museum and Gallery in Glasgow as part of its efforts to create an online catalogue of his work.

Head of the Lady Lever, Jane Duffy told the News: “When Whistler started out on his career as an artist, he actually started by doing maps for geological surveys and that’s how he learnt to etch.

“People are familiar with his paintings and his famous portraits but what is nice about this is you get to see a different aspect of his work, but you can still see the relationship between his paintings and his etchings.

“The pictures on display also cover a long period of his career, from 1854 to 1893, so you see how he develops.”

The exhibition is grouped into themes, exploring his technique and processes, to his representations of Venice or London’s Docklands, and even a delicate 1870 rendering of Mrs Frederick Leyland outside Speke Hall.

l WHISTLER : The Gentle Art of Making Etchings runs at the Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight from July 3 to September 20. Entry is free.