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Throughout his career, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) employed pastel as a drawing medium to make preparatory drawings for his oil paintings, and later to create stand-alone works. Even though all areas of Whistler’s oeuvre have been subject to extensive art historical analysis, only limited technical analysis has been conducted. In particular, his pastels have not been subject to comprehensive technical analysis. The current ‘Whistler pastels project’ aims to address this gap by creating a better understanding of the role of pastels in Whistler’s artistic practice, identifying and understanding the materials used to make these works, and assessing the fragility of these works to inform future exhibition policy. In this talk, a brief introduction to the project is given and the initial results and conclusions from the technical examination to date are presented.
The Hunterian holds one of the largest collections of artworks produced by James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), including around 120 pastels. These works have recently been studied as part of the Whistler Pastels Project (September 2022—June 2024), to better understand the artist’s methodology and materials. A new focus exhibition at the Hunterian Art Gallery, will showcase some of these pastel drawings alongside new analysis and understanding of the works. In this Friday Focus talk, join Tess Visser to explore her research findings, what this project has taught us about Whistler’s materials and methods, and what questions are still to be answered.