James Whistler, LA County Museum of Art

James Whistler, USA - A Review by Kris Westreich

 Nocturne - Palaces, etching, 1879

The prints in this exhibition were wonderful. They allowed the viewer to trace his artistic development through his etchings. At the beginning, things were tightly rendered and detail-filled. Towards the end, the prints tend to describe through suggestion rather than detail. One thing I saw that I never considered was the way Whistler used the plate tone to establish value. He will leave more plate tone in an area that he wants to be darker and wipe out others that he wants to be lighter. In this way he challenges the idea of a print having to be exactly the same each time. My two favorites of the exhibition were “Nocturne: Palaces” and “Weary.” They both tend to put more detail in certain parts of the print, and leave others as merely outlines or as indications rather than full-blown descriptions.  Some of them almost approach an abstract emptiness, such as in “Old Battersea” bridge. Of course, the draftsmanship present is also very accomplished in these etchings.

Under Old Battersea Bridge, etching and drypoint, 1879

The German Woodcut: Renaissance and Expressionist Revival

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Geramny, 1909, Woodcut, Bathers Tossing Reeds


May 5, 2012–September 9, 2012, LA County Museum of Art
A Review by Kris Westreich

I thought this exhibition was particularly successful. Not only was the quality of the work superb, but also the way they displayed it demonstrated the distinctly German characteristics of these modern artists. By displaying those prints next to German Renaissance artists, the exhibition links together the traditions of the medium across generations. I was particularly taken with Kirchner's prints Bathers Tossing Reeds and Portrait of Ludwig Schames as well as the Kollwitz prints.

Hans Baldung Grien, Germany, Woodcut, 1534, Stallion and Kicking Mare with Wild Horses

Technically, it was interesting to note the difference between the modern and renaissance artists. The old master prints tend to lean more towards chiaroscuro and graduated value distribution. In order to achieve that, the artists had to work on minute details, such as in Stallion and Kicking Mare with Wild Horses by Hans Baldung Grien.