Artwork Page for The Old Rag Woman, No. 10

Details / Information for The Old Rag Woman, No. 10

Series Title: Twelve Etchings from Nature (The French Set)

The Old Rag Woman, No. 10

1858

James McNeill Whistler

(American, 1834–1903)
Culture
America
Medium
etching with chine collé
Measurements
Plate: 20.8 x 14.8 cm (8 3/16 x 5 13/16 in.); Sheet: 27.3 x 20.8 cm (10 3/4 x 8 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph King 1922.438
Catalogue raisonné
Kennedy 21; Glasgow 27
State
II/III
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Whistler's first set of prints, the so-called French Set, included domestic and genre scenes, studies of friends and their children, and glimpses of shadowy figures in backstreets, alleyways, and anonymous interiors. His choice of subject and treatment reflected the American ex-patriot's awareness of modern realist trends in French art. This print, made after Whistler's return to Paris from the Rhine, describes an old woman silhouetted in a doorway, thrown into relief by a shadowed interior. Bent with fatigue, she sits among bundles of scavenged rags, gathered by the poor and sold to papermakers. The image resonates with the painful combination of aging and urban poverty.
A vertically oriented etching in dense black-inked fine lines depicts a woman seated in a dark room seen through a doorway. Mostly cast in shadow, she faces right with her head tilted toward her lap. Few features of her face are discernible. Cross-hatching creates heavy streaks of shadow against tan paper. Behind her, shelves hold bottles and jars. A light-colored doorframe borders the right, while fabric bundles rest on the floor.

The Old Rag Woman, No. 10

1858

James McNeill Whistler

(American, 1834–1903)
America

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