Whistler’s Etching of Anacapa Island
Fall/Winter 2013, Vol. 45, No. 3/4 | Pieces of History
One of the most famous American painters, James Abbot McNeill Whistler, also had a short career as a U.S. government artist. He had excelled in drawing while a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, but his failure in chemistry and accumulation of demerits led to his dismissal in July 1854. In November 1854, he landed a position as a draftsman in the U.S. Coast Survey and learned etching there while working on topographical maps and plans.
Whistler was far better known in the office for his lax work ethic and propensity to sketch on scraps and walls. His “Sketch of Anacapa Island,” one of the few known works from his federal tenure, demonstrates that while the artist was highly capable, his creative nature could not be stifled. After completing the etching in the required style, he added two flocks of gulls soaring above the coast. When reprimanded by his supervisor for the addition, he reportedly replied, “Surely the birds don’t detract from the sketch. Anacapa Island couldn’t look as blank as that map did before I added the birds.”
The artist lasted only two months at the Coast Survey and eventually left the United States for Paris to study art. The etching technique he learned during his short federal service proved valuable in his later career as he became renowned for his painting and printmaking.