Whistler Etchings at the Hunterian Art Gallery

The Hunterian Art Gallery in Glasgow is an absolute gem. When I visited last week there was a massive Whistler show featuring many of his etchings, but also drawings, sketchbooks and paintings. I lost count of how many rooms it filled. The thinest scratchy etched lines, delicately drawn and detailed spanning bridges, atmospheric brief sketches of weather and sea. Exquisite.

Like Monet (and myself), he was an admirer of Japanese art, woodcut prints and drawings which were emerging from the far east towards the end of the 19th century, which inevitably informed composition, line and subject matter in his work. I think it's the economic gesture or the space left empty which I admire most in these works. Knowing when to stop is a skill. Offering hints and subtlety, expressing the essence of a scene. This essence of a thing is quite often what I strive to uncover and present in my own work. 

Simple but so effective lines on a page.

Whistler: Art & Legacy at the Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow