James Fountain Sutton

American, died 1915

Explore Selected Works

The rounded, feathery canopies of trees are mirrored in the placid surface of a river in this horizontal landscape painting. The scene is loosely painted with visible dashes and strokes. The largest tree is to our right of center. Touches of cucumber and emerald green, eggplant purple, indigo blue, and smoke gray create the cloud-like canopy. More bushes and trees to either side are created with dashes of cool sky and lapis blue, mint and sage green, and muted rust red. The horizon runs across the middle of the canvas. The sky above and the reflection of it below are painted with longer, curving strokes of parchment white and pale shell pink. The artist signed the painting in the lower left corner, “Claude Monet.”
Claude Monet, The Seine at Giverny, 1897, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.180

The Seine at Giverny

Claude Monet · 1897 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.180

We look across a strip of tall grass and flowers at a river that winds into the distance in this loosely painted, horizontal landscape. The lower half of the composition is a mass of tall wildflowers created with daubs of lemon yellow and white among vertical strokes of moss, laurel, and pine green. The river beyond is painted with horizontal dashes of arctic, denim, and cobalt blue. The horizon comes about two-thirds of the way up the composition and is lined with tall, narrow trees, trees with rounded canopies, and a blanket of green growth loosely painted and shaded with touches of blue. The sky above is painted with blended strokes of slate blue and cream white. The sky is paler to the right, suggesting sunlight breaking through some of the clouds. The artist signed and dated the painting with red in the lower right corner: “Claude Monet 80.”
Claude Monet, Banks of the Seine, Vétheuil, 1880, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.177

Banks of the Seine, Vétheuil

Claude Monet · 1880 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.177

Tall, oval forms slowly emerge against a field of softly painted white, pale sky blue, shell pink, light lilac purple, and faint yellow to become trees in a hazy, foggy field in this nearly square landscape painting. The paint is swept on in short, visible strokes. The tallest tree, reaching almost to the top of the canvas, stands to our left of center. Three shorter, bushier trees, about a quarter the height, flank the tall tree with one to our left and two closer to the right edge. Two narrow trees stand between the tallest one and the bushier pair to our right. The artist signed the work in orange paint in the lower left corner: “Claude Monet.”
Claude Monet, Morning Haze, 1888, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1958.12.1

Morning Haze

Claude Monet · 1888 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1958.12.1

A woman with peachy skin stands facing our left in profile ironing a pale blue shirt on a white surface, possibly a table, with a line of pastel-colored shirts hanging in front of curtained windows opposite us in this vertical painting. We seem to look slightly down onto the woman’s shoulders and onto the surface of the table. The white tabletop takes up most of the bottom half of the composition, and, seen from the knees up, the woman leans in from the lower right corner. The woman’s chestnut-brown hair is pulled up into a bun, and she wears a dark earring in her left ear. Her denim-blue dress is speckled with white dots and highlighted with strokes of blush pink. Her sleeves are rolled up to the elbow, and a dusty rose-pink apron covers her brown skirt. She presses down on the iron with her right hand, farther from us, and uses her left hand to straighten the fabric of the shirt collar. The iron has a thick handle and a flat, narrow, triangular surface used to press out wrinkles. A small, empty, bronze-colored bowl and crisply starched and folded porcelain-white shirt lie on the table to her left, closer to us. A row of hanging garments in pale crepe pink, flaxen gold, teal, and lavender purple soften the light coming into the room from three vertical windows, which are covered with sheer, ivory-white curtains. The artist’s feathery brushstrokes give the painting a hazy quality. The artist signed the work with olive-green letters near the lower left corner: “Degas.”
Edgar Degas, Woman Ironing, begun c. 1876, completed c. 1887, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1972.74.1

Woman Ironing

Edgar Degas · begun c. 1876, completed c. 1887 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1972.74.1

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Rest Before Nightfall

Jean-Charles Cazin · 1883 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  2014.136.22

We look up at the exterior of a church that soars the height of this vertical painting. The church is painted with visible dabs and strokes of azure blue, peach, lavender purple, and camel brown to create a blurred look, as if seeing a reflection in the rippling surface of a puddle. The church façade is angled to our left, away from us. The main door and its surround takes up the center of the composition, where a rectangular door is set within nested, pointed arches that lead up to a narrow, tall, triangular gable. The point of that gable overlaps the round, dark rose window, which is the same width as the portal surround below. Spires flank the central section and rise precipitously off the top edge of the painting. The sky above is painted with daubs of white and pale blue. The artist signed and dated the lower left, “Claude Monet 94.”
Claude Monet, Rouen Cathedral, West Façade, 1894, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.49

Rouen Cathedral, West Façade

Claude Monet · 1894 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1963.10.49

Bibliography

1915

  • "James H. Sutton Dead." The New York Times. 25 November 1915:13:5

1984

  • Norton, Thomas E. [Foreword by Douglas Dillon]. 100 Years of Collecting in America; The Story of Sotheby Parke Bernet. New York, 1984: 12-13, 17.