Coastal Scene
Artist
William Trost Richards
(American, 1833-1905)
CultureAmerican
Date1879
MediumGraphite and watercolor on paper
DimensionsOverall: 4 15/16 x 7 in. (12.5 x 17.8 cm)
InscribedVerso: 1879
Credit LineGift of Edith Ballinger Price
Object number94.24.30
Not on view
DescriptionThis is a drawing of a seashore; the clouds and breaking waves are painted opaque white, standing out from the sepia-toned paper.Label TextWilliam Trost Richards American (1833-1905) Coastal Scene, 1879 Graphite and watercolor on paper Gift of Edith Ballinger Price 94.24.30 These drawings, watercolors, and oil sketches are among more than one hundred works by William Trost Richards in the Chrysler Museum of Art, a collection that encapsulates a long, prolific career. Most of them were given to the Museum in 1994 by one of the artist's granddaughters, Edith Ballinger Price. She recalled his tireless sketching during his final years in Newport, Rhode Island: In the evening as we all sat beside the round table in the library… he would scribble little compositions, a rock, thunder-clouds, an island in the distance, a clump of trees. I think he saw pictures constantly, snatches of remembered configurations of rock and sea and shore. Richards devoted his entire career to landscape, usually painting familiar locales such as the northeastern forests, farmland in Pennsylvania, and the rocky coast of Rhode Island. His landscapes are usually without figures, but a human presence is often indicated by grazing cattle or a distant sail. He often exhibited in London and Paris, where he won a bronze medal at the 1889 World's Fair. He also frequented popular coastal resort cities in Europe and the northeastern United States, where he sketched some of the small seascapes in the Chrysler's collection. Though Richards often painted famous views with rich historical associations, he also took pleasure in quiet seascapes of great simplicity. Such unpeopled vistas (in this case rendered in white and a narrow range of sepia tones) eschewed specific details of locale in favor of the pure enjoyment of light, atmosphere, water, and sand. Edited By: DS Edited Date: 08/2005 Approved By: MHM Approval Date: 10/06/2005Exhibition History"Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006.
