Late Picquet 1894

James Abbott McNeill Whistler made "Late Picquet" using graphite on paper. The very process by which this image came into being is crucial to our understanding of it. Whistler engaged in a kind of 'mechanical' reproduction here - a quick sketch, produced for an audience in pursuit of the most basic economic needs to make a living as an artist in late 19th-century Europe. Notice the immediacy of his lines, and the soft texture of the graphite as it interacts with the page. The weight of the figures depicted at the table suggests the weight and worth of an activity, likely a game. The lines convey the presence of the artist as an observer, capturing a fleeting moment with an economy of means. “Late Picquet” may have started with an interest in craft and fine art, but it moved into wider social issues of labor, politics, and consumption with the simple act of picking up a pencil.