U. S. Coast Survey No. 2, Anacapa Island in Santa Barbara Channel
James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American, 1834 - 1903
1854
Photo-process reproduction of engraving on paper
Overall: 12 × 9 1/2 in. (30.5 × 24.1 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Alden Guild, Class of 1952
PR.979.61
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
19th century
Object Name
Research Area
Not on view
Inscriptions
Inscribed, lower left: Dr.ng by W.B. McMuntie; lower right: Eng.d by J.A. Whistler, J. Young + C.A. Knight; upper left: No. 43; upper right: Lith. Bien + Sterner N.Y.
Label
Today better known for his society portraits, James Abbot McNeill Whistler began his career as an artist working for the United States Coast Survey following his training at West Point Military Academy, from which he was expelled for excessive demerits. He made a small number of maps intended for military use and the navigation of newly claimed territory. Nevertheless, Whistler added creative touches, like a flock of birds off the island. Though he worked just two months for the government, Whistler learned a variety of printmaking techniques that would prove essential to his later career successes.
From the 2026 exhibition Nurturing Nationhood: Artistic Constructions of America, 1790-1940, curated by Haely Chang (Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art), Evonne Fuselier (Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow), Michael Hartman (former Jonathan Little Cohen Curator of American Art), Elizabeth Rice Mattison (Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art), and Ashley B. Offill (Curator of Collection
Exhibition History
Nurturing Nationhood: Artistic Constructions of America, 1790-1940, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire; February 7-August 29, 2026.
Provenance
Alden Guild (1929-2017), Montpelier, Vermont; given to the present collection, 1979.
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