The Doorway-Venice                                   Castello Quarter-Venice                                             The Bridge-Venice

                                        
              The Balcony-Venice                                                                        Whister Studies
                                                                                    
                                                      View from Whistlers Window-Venice                                               Whistlers Venice

                     Venice Lagoon                                                      The Garden-Venice                              The Two Doors-Venice                    Ponte Del Pistor-Venice

           Ponte Del A'Zere-Venice                     The Small Mast-Venice             Large Mast-Venice           A Favorite Spot-Venice


              Whistlers Venice-Lagoon
        

I tend to create my etchings in specific “sets” much like Whistler before me and my first set that I will show you now was a tribute series on the great etchers of the past who visited Venice during the late 1800’s.

After Whistler sued the art critic John Ruskin for libel and won the case, he was awarded only a “farthing” in damages, which forced him into bankruptcy.

To alleave his financial distress, the Fine Art Society in London commissioned Whistler to travel to Venice to complete a series of twelve etchings of the city.

He was expected to return in several months but stayed for almost a year, much to the dismay of the society who had to continually front Whistler additional funds for the extended stay.

But Whistler finally returned to London with far beyond the required 12 etchings and immediately re-established his career and his reputation as the pre-eminent fine art etcher of his generation.

At the time I created this set, I was in equal, if not greater, financial ruin but took Whistler’s example to start etching again in earnest, despite the lack of funds and support.

There were many other artists and etchers working in Venice at the same time as Whistler and many of them banded together to etch the views in Venice.  Not all of my tribute etchings of Venice were specifically after Whistler but also include Frank Duveneck and Otto Bacher among many others that were together in Venice at the same time.

Although my artistic style is uniquely my own and really hasn’t changed much from my early youth, like all artists before me I am influenced and motivated by studying the masters of the past.

Once I had completed my tribute set of Venice etchings, I was ready to start to etch a set of local Monterey Peninsula views that I could take around to local art galleries and perhaps generate some interest in my work.


I have many additional Venice etchings available. Please contact the artist directly for a complete list:

tanandwater@aol.com