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Inscription

lower left: Childe Hassam 1902

Provenance

Consigned by the artist 1931 to (Macbeth Galleries, New York); sold 1934 to New Britain Museum of American Art, Connecticut; sold 1952 to (Vose Galleries, Boston); sold 1952 to John Fox, Boston, and Fairfield, Connecticut; (Wildenstein & Co., New York); sold 20 January 1966 to Ailsa Mellon Bruce [1901-1969], Long Island, New York; bequest 1970 to NGA.

[1] Provenance according to NGA curatorial files and the Ailsa Mellon Bruce notebook now in NGA archives.

Exhibition History

1931
Possibly Newark Museum, New Jersey, 1931 (Newark has no record).
1932
One Man's Taste in Contemporary Art, Addison Gallery, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, 1932, no. 39.
1934
Columbia University, New York, 1934.
1970
Extended loan for use by The White House, Washington, D.C., 1970-1975.
1979
Extended loan for use by the Secretary, U.S. Department of Treasury, Washington, D.C., 1979-1980.
1981
Extended loan for use by Vice President and Mrs. George Bush, Washington, D.C., 1981-1987.
1987
Child Hassam in Connecticut, Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut, 1987-1988, no. 4 (cat. by Kathleen M. Burnside).
1998
American Light: Selections from the National Gallery of Art, Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, May-August 1998, no cat.
1998
Treasures of Light: Paintings from the National Gallery of Art, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, March-April 1998, no cat.
2001
The Cos Cob Art Colony: Impressionists on the Connecticut Shore, National Academy of Design Museum, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Denver Art Museum, 2001-2002, no. 48, repro.
2004
Childe Hassam, American Impressionist, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2004, unnumbered catalogue, fig. 158.
2008
Loan to display with permanent collection, Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland, 2007-2008.
2013
Oysters, the Pearls of Long Island Sound, Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, Greenwich, Connecticut, 2013-2014, no catalogue.

Technical Summary

The plain-weave fabric support has a moderately tight and somewhat coarse weave. The painting has been lined but the tacking margins remain intact. The even, gray ground layer may be a commercial preparation. Over it, the artist applied an overall, gray imprimatura layer that is used as an integral part of the composition. The paint, applied with short, evenly spaced strokes, allows touches of the gray underlayer to show through. The same brushwork gives the water a scintillating, fluid appearance. The somewhat flattened appearance of the paint layer may be the result of a past lining process. Minor paint losses are concentrated in the lower right, upper left, and lower left corners. The varnish has not discolored.

Bibliography

1938
Adams, Adeline. Childe Hassam. New York, 1938: 85.
1980
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 172, repro.
1981
Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 192, repro., as Oyster Sloop.
1987
Burnside, Kathleen M. Childe Hassam in Connecticut. Exh. cat. Florence Griswold Museum. Old Lyme, 1987: 10-11, no. 4.
1991
Larkin, Susan G. "Light, Time, and Tide: Theodore Robinson at Cos Cob." The American Art Journal, XXIII (1991): fig. 27.
1992
American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 196, repro.
1996
Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 280-283, color repro.

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