The Guidecca, Note in Flesh Tones,

This work is entitled "The Guidecca, Note in Flesh Tones" by artist James McNeil Whistler in 1879-1880.  The medium used here is chalk pastel on gray paper.  Whistler recognized the importance of color and pattern in his work and was fastidious in his choice of paper texture and tone. The Venetian pastels demonstrate his exceptional use of paper color as a medium-spectrum tone in its own right.  These rendering techniques infused Whistler’s images with a delicacy and transience that feels so fundamentally Venetian.  This piece of artwork is no bigger than a piece of printer paper and can be found in the Mead Art Museum.