Laguna with Steamers and Gondolas
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
Although interested in Japanese art since his youth, Robert Blum developed a more sophisticated understanding of its aesthetics through his close contact with James McNeill Whistler in Venice—the setting of this work—during the summer of 1880. From Whistler he learned to create compositional tensions between blank areas and those with motifs, as well as to achieve tonal variations in etching with sketchy lines and hand-inked plates. The latter technique produced the subtle grays in the sky of this work.
Caption
Robert Frederick Blum American, 1857–1903. Laguna with Steamers and Gondolas, 1885. Etching in black ink on cream, medium thick, slightly textured wove Japan paper, sheet: 10 5/16 x 15 3/8 in. (26.2 x 39.1 cm) image: 7 5/8 x 8 7/16 in. (19.4 x 21.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Cincinnati Museum Association, 11.579. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 11.579_PS1.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Laguna with Steamers and Gondolas
Date
1885
Medium
Etching in black ink on cream, medium thick, slightly textured wove Japan paper
Classification
Dimensions
sheet: 10 5/16 x 15 3/8 in. (26.2 x 39.1 cm) image: 7 5/8 x 8 7/16 in. (19.4 x 21.4 cm)
Signatures
Etched lower left: "Blum / 85 Venice" and stamped in red below lower right corner of image: "Blum" within square
Inscriptions
Inscribed in pencil at lower left of sheet: "261" Artist's stamp in lower margin
Credit Line
Gift of the Cincinnati Museum Association
Accession Number
11.579
Rights
No known copyright restrictions
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