Riault, the Engraver

Drawing directly on a copper plate with a needle, James McNeill Whistler scratched thin lines to articulate the bearded profile, upper torso, and hands of French wood engraver Paul Riault (active 1852–1863) in this etched portrait. This image of a fellow artist at work shows Riault bent over in deep concentration as he engraves a woodblock steadied in his firm grip. Four burins (a specialized tool for wood-carving) lie close at hand. Only a few lines sparely suggest the seated artist's legs straddling the corner of chest of drawers. The drypoint process, in which ink clings to the rough edges of the scratched lines, creates rich, velvety blacks in the primary areas of the image: Riault's patriarchal head and sloping shoulders bent over his task as he carves an image into the woodblock.

By 1860, Whistler alternated living in London and Paris, creating paintings, drawings, and etchings that would launch his early career. In 1859, the artist had executed his first drypoint prints, encouraged by British printmaker Seymour Haden (1818–1910), his brother-in-law, and inspired by the graphic masterpieces of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), the celebrated Dutch artist. Riault, the Engraver is one of a dozen drypoint portraits Whistler made of fellow artists, friends, family, and himself during this period. This particular print is an excellent rare impression of the first state; later Whistler added vertical lines on the drawer fronts. This impression once belonged to Howard Mansfield, a New York lawyer who amassed a celebrated collection of Whistler's prints. Mansfield also authored one of the earliest catalogues of Whistler's etchings, in which he included this impression.

World Columbian Exposition, Chicago, Illinois, May–October 1893.

Pan American Exhibition, Buffalo, New York, May 1–November 2, 1901.

Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January–March 1902.

American Treasures: Chase, Whistler, and the Prendergasts, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 26, 1996–January 5, 1997.

On Process: The American Print, Technique Examined, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 13–March 2, 2001.

The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940 (Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains 1840–1940), Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venues: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 15–May 25, 2003; Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, June 8–August 17, 2003. [exh. cat.]

Brownell, William C. "Whistler in Painting and Etching." Scribner's Monthly 18:4 (August 1879): 486–90, 493–95. Ill. p. 488.

Mansfield, Howard. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Etchings and Dry-points of James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Chicago, Illinois: Caxton Club, 1909. No. 65.

Kennedy, Edward Guthrie. The Etched Work of Whistler. Illustrated by reproductions in collotype of the different states of the plates. New York: Grolier Club, 1910. No. 65, i/iii.

Lochnan, Katharine A. The Etchings of James McNeill Whistler. New Haven, Connecticut and London, England: Art Gallery of Ontario and Yale University Press, 1984. No. 69.

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. The People Work: American Perspectives, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text pp. 24, 30 (checklist); fig. 13, p. 24 (black & white). [specific reference to Terra print]

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Le Travail à l'oeuvre: les artistes américains, 1840–1940. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2003. Text pp. 24, 30 (checklist); fig. 13, p. 24 (black & white). [specific reference to Terra print]