The Much Resounding Sea

1884

Thomas Moran

Artist, American, born England, 1837 - 1926

Roiling, churning waves breaking against a patch of a sandy beach fill most of this wide, horizontal landscape painting. The water deepens from aquamarine blue to teal, slate, and midnight blue amid clouds of ivory-white crests and spray. A glassy, mirror-like sheen of water coats the sandy beach where it drops sharply from the lower left corner to the breaking waves. A few shells or other objects are suggested with touches of pumpkin orange and charcoal gray along the beach. Near the lower center, a battered wooden cage is pommeled by waves where the water meets the foot of the sloping beach. A strip of sky lightens from sable brown to our left to light tan to our right across the upper third of the composition. The artist signed and dated the work with red paint in the lower left corner, “T MORAN 1884,” with the T overlapping the M to make a monogram.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of the Avalon Foundation

  • Dimensions

    overall: 63.9 x 158.2 cm (25 3/16 x 62 5/16 in.)
    framed: 80 x 174 x 5.7 cm (31 1/2 x 68 1/2 x 2 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1967.9.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Frederic René Coudert [1871-1955], New York and Oyster Bay, Long Island, at least between 1912 and 1919.[1] Purchased c. 1965 at auction on Long Island by Mrs. Myrtle Gascoigne, Newcastle, Maine;[2] purchased April 1967 by her children, Nancy Gascoigne [Mrs. John T.] Richards, Alexandria, Virginia, Mrs. Robert D. Halverson, Glen Cove, Long Island, New York, and Robert W. Gascoigne, Boonton, New Jersey; purchased 1 November 1967 by NGA.
[1] According to Thurman Wilkins (letter of 24 March 1969 to E. John Bullard, in NGA curatorial files), he was informed by Mr. Finnegan, Knoedler librarian, that the painting was "years ago in the collection of Fred R. Coudert, who sent it on consignment to [Knoedler] in 1912." The painting remained at Knoedler until June 1919, when it was returned unsold to Mr. Coudert.
[2] This history was told to NGA's E. John Bullard by Nancy Gascoigne Richards in a telephone call on 30 January 1969 (record of the conversation in NGA curatorial files).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1969

  • In Memoriam, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, unnumbered checklist.

1971

  • The Beckoning Land, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, 1971, no. 70.

1988

  • The American Seascape from John Smibert to John Marin, Mansfield Art Center, Ohio, 1988, no. 36, repro.

1989

  • At the Water's Edge: 19th and 20th Century American Beach Scenes, Tampa Mus. of Art; Center for the Arts, Vero Beach; Virginia Beach Center for the Arts; The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, 1989-1990, unnumbered cat., repro. (shown only in Tampa).

1997

  • Thomas Moran, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa; Seattle Art Museum, 1997-1998, no. 66, repro.

2010

  • The Sea Around Us, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, 2010, no catalogue.

2013

  • Tracing Moran's Romanticism & Symbolism, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, 2013-2014, no catalogue.

2014

  • Peindre l'Amerique. Les artistes du Nouveau Monde 1830-1900, Fondation de l'Hermitage, Lausanne, 2014, no. 12, repro.

2017

  • Hokusai and Japonisme, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2017-2018, no. 185, repro.

Bibliography

1966

  • Wilkins, Thurman. Thomas Moran: Artist of the Mountains. Norman, Oklahoma, 1966.

1970

  • American Paintings and Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1970: 82, repro.

1971

  • The Beckoning Land: Nature and the American Artist, A Selection of Nineteenth Century Paintings. Atlanta, 1971: 29, 90.

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 199, repro.

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 136, repro.

1981

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: 183, 184, repro. 185.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 557, no. 845, color repro.

1985

  • Bruhn, Thomas P. American Etching: The 1880s. Storrs, Connecticut, 1985: 34-36, 42-44.

1986

  • Morand, Anne, and Nancy Friese. The Prints of Thomas Moran in the Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art. Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1986: 18, 44, 136.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 156, repro.

1989

  • At the Water's Edge: Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century American Beach Scenes. Tampa, 1989: 58.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 237, repro.

1998

  • Torchia, Robert Wilson, with Deborah Chotner and Ellen G. Miles. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part II. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1998: 11-14, color repro.

Inscriptions

lower left, TM in monogram: TMoran. / 1884.

Wikidata ID

Q20189690

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