3300 x 2364 px | 27,9 x 20 cm | 11 x 7,9 inches | 300dpi
Date de la prise de vue:
1858
Informations supplémentaires:
Cette image appartient au domaine public, ce qui signifie que le droit d’auteur a expiré ou que le titulaire du droit d’auteur a renoncé à ses droits. Les frais facturés par Alamy couvrent l’accès à la copie haute résolution de l’image.
"At the Piano", Whistler's first major work, reflects the bourgeois environment in which he was raised. Yet the standard subject matter of the drawing room piano is dynamized by the composition. Whistler consciously imitated the optical effect provided by the stereoscopes popular during his day. Note the two definitively separate focal points of mother and daughter; it is impossible to focus on both simultaneously. The shallow pictorial depth pulls the viewer into the canvas, which exaggerates this stereoptical effect. It feels almost as if you were holding a book so close to your face that you can't read the words. Compositionally, Whistler keeps the picture from flying apart by the use of strong verticals and horizontals in the picture frames and dado. Even in this early work, Whistler has achieved an intimacy between the formal structure and the subject. In most pictures of this genre, the subjects are seated side-by-side happily sharing a musical experience. In "At the Piano", mother and daughter are separated by an impassable abyss caused by Whistler's dual focal points. The impression is one of estrangement and isolation. When we learn that mother and daughter are dressed in mourning (white being the appropriate mourning attire for a Victorian child), we can appreciate how Whistler utilized a novel compositional concept to express and accentuate the gravity of his subject matter - Mark Harden
