Rocky Seascape
Artist
William Trost Richards
(American, 1833-1905)
CultureAmerican
Date19th century
MediumWatercolor on wove paper
DimensionsOverall: 5 x 6 13/16 in. (12.7 x 17.3 cm)
InscribedNone
Credit LineGift of Edith Ballinger Price
Object number94.24.32
Not on view
DescriptionThis is a drawing. It is brown wash on paper, very loose strokes. High, rocky coast with the sea in foreground. There is negative space between the sea and what seems to be a informal palette for the artist.Label TextRocky Seascape, ca. 1890s Watercolor on wove paper The art critic Dr. Alfred C. Lambdin described Richards’ obsession with the vibrancy of the water and the challenge it presented to artists: No artist had ever before studied the wave motions in an exact and scientific manner, so as to understand the relations of one wave to another and of all to the undercurrents and the wind and the tide, and all those varied forces which make the water on one shore, or under one sky, so different from the water on another shore or under another sky. This study was an arduous one. The facts must all be stored in the memory and the effect worked out by a mental process. Gift of Edith Ballinger Price 94.24.32 Exhibition History“Seascapes by William Trost Richards,” Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 9 - May 1, 2016.
