Portrait of Drouet

James Abbott McNeill Whistler

1859

Etching and drypoint

Dallas Museum of Art

The American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler is generally credited with spurring the Etching Revival, an artistic movement that flourished in Britain and France during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The artists of the Etching Revival sought to renew etching as a form of original artistic expression rather than mere reproduction. Their graphic work not only looked back to the open, painterly style of Rembrandt and his generation but demonstrated a modern sensibility in the choice of subject matter. Although Whistler is best known for his evocative and atmospheric landscapes, his etchings demonstrate the painter’s deftne