The Sea and Sand

Maker(s)
Artist: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
Historical period(s)
1884
Medium
Oil on wood panel
Dimensions
H x W: 13.4 x 23.4 cm (5 1/4 x 9 3/16 in)
Geography
United States
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1902.151a-b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Painting
Type

Oil painting

Keywords
ocean, United States, water
Provenance
Provenance research underway.
Label

The Sea and Sand is one of the simplest and most abstract of the St. Ives paintings. Whistler began by covering his panel with an unusual dark blue ground. Probably working from the top of the panel down, he used broad horizontal strokes of gray to establish the sky. In the foreground, broader horizontal bands of a browner pigment establish the beach. A few narrow strokes of a slightly bluish white create the frothing caps of the breaking waves. The three main horizontal bands are secured by a few shorter verticals that indicate people and by the squat oval of Whistler's famous butterfly monogram.

Published References
  • Andrew McLaren Young, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer. The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler. Studies in British Art 2 vols. New Haven, 1980. vol. 2: pl. 191.
  • Anna Gruetzner. A Fragile Modernism: Whistler and His Impressionist Followers. New Haven and London, 2007. .
  • Kenneth Myers. Mr. Whistler's Gallery: Pictures at an 1884 Exhibition. Washington. cat. 5, p. 31.
  • Donald Holden. Whistler Landscapes and Seascapes. New York. p. 79, pl. 29.
  • Anne Helmreich. Nature's Truth: Photography, Painting, and Science in Victorian Britain. University Park, Pennsylvania. p. 113, fig. 33.
  • David Park Curry. James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1984. p. 141, pl. 45.
Collection Area(s)
American Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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