Oscar Wilde and Whistler
- Medium
- Pen and black ink, with black crayon and touches of blue crayon, on ivory laminate board
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 35.4 × 25.5 cm (13 15/16 × 10 1/16 in.)
- Genre
- pen and ink drawings
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Tags
drawings (visual works)inkpen and ink drawingsprints and drawingcolored inkblack inkcrayonscoating (material)
About
Phil May, a friend of Roussel and a member of the Chelsea Arts Club, contributed caricatures of actors, artists, and writers to London periodicals. The bold style and sharp wit of his drawings attracted a wide following, and his illustrations were also published in book form. This caricature of Wilde and Whistler was reproduced in Phil May’s Sketch-book, which was first issued in 1895. The caption refers to Whistler’s repeated assertions that Wilde plagiarized his ideas, accusations that ended their guardedly amicable relationship in 1890.
