South-West Point, Conanicut

1878 / 1879

William Trost Richards

Associated Names
William Trost Richards

Artist, American, 1833 - 1905

This painting shows a seascape with rugged cliffs rising on the right above the turbulent sea. Waves crash against rocks, sending white foam into the air. The jagged cliff face is in shades of gray and brown, with some pale green at the very top. The swirling sea below is in shades of blue and gray, and the sky above is cloudy, with one hint of blue at the top. On the left, white seagulls fly above the spray.

Media Options

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Artwork overview


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Possibly Newman Galleries, Philadelphia); Erik Thune, Philadelphia [1893 – 1983]; by descent to his daughter, Emma Parker (née Thune), Chilmark, MA [1992 - 1997?]; J. B. Riggs Parker, her widower, Chilmark, MA; gift to the National Gallery of Art, 2023.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1878

  • Paris Universal Exposition, Paris, 1879, no. 138.

  • Eleventh Annual Exhibition of the American Watercolor Society, Galleries of the National Academy of Design, New York, 1878, no. 363, illustrated p. 7.

Bibliography

1980

  • Ferber, Linda S. William Trost Richards (1833-1905) : American Landscape and Marine Painter. New York, 1980: 286, 316, and fig. 236.

2017

  • Foster, Kathleen A. American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent. Philadelphia, 2017: 411, note 77.

2020

  • Shahi, Kimia R. "William Trost Richards's 'Real Drawing' and the Currency of Watercolor, ca. 1875 - 85" American Art 34 (2020): 69-70.

2024

  • Hoisington, Rena M. "Gifts and Acquisitions."Art for the Nation no. 68 (Spring 2024): 21, repro.

Inscriptions

recto: at lower right, in black ink: Wm. T. Richards / 1879


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