East Hampton Beach
Artist
Edward Lamson Henry
(American, 1841-1919)
CultureAmerican
Date1880
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsOverall: 23 1/4 x 51 1/4 in. (59.1 x 130.2 cm)
Overall, Frame: 28 x 56 in. (71.1 x 142.2 cm)
Overall, Frame: 28 x 56 in. (71.1 x 142.2 cm)
InscribedSigned and dated lower right: E L Henry;
East Hampton Beach L I 1880
Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number71.554
Not on view
DescriptionOil on canvas painting of people at a beach. On the right, horse buggies and beach tents are depicted; to the left the water with people bathing and playing in it. The sky is blue with patches of white and gray clouds.Label TextEdward Lamson Henry American (1841-1919) East Hampton Beach, 1880 Oil on canvas Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.554 Edward Lamson Henry perfected a conservative, realist style of painting suitable for both historical depictions and densely detailed images of contemporary American life. East Hampton Beach on Long Island was one of his favorite subjects, and his love of detail is fully revealed in the Chrysler's crowded seashore scene. By the 1880s, the beach, easily accessible by rail from New York, was a busy tourist destination replete with bathing houses, seaside tents to catch the ocean breeze, and rustic brush arbors offering shade from the summer sun. To the left, bathers wade in the surf and cling to a lifeline to avoid the sea's undertow. A cluster of horse-drawn buggies and carriages dominates the center. (In Henry's day, buggies were allowed to drive right up to water's edge.) The Chrysler's painting is probably the one that Henry showed under the title Easthampton Beach at the 1881 exhibition of the National Academy of Design in New York. Henry's asking price for that work was a hefty $1,000. ProvenanceNewhouse Galleries, New York, 1968; Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 1968; Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Mass., 1968-1971; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. to the Chrysler Museum, 1971. Exhibition History"Fifty-Sixth Annual Exhibition," National Academy of Design, New York, N.Y., 1881, no. 547. The Chrysler Art Museum of Provincetown, Mass., exhibited in 1968. "Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum," Chrysler Museum at Norfolk, Va., March 1 - July 4, 1976. "The Long Island Landscape, 1865-1914: The Halcyon Years," The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, N.Y., July 26 - September 20, 1981. "E. L. Henry's Country Life," Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, N.Y., March 27 - May 5, 1982. "The Long Island Landscape, 1820-1920," The Museums at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, N.Y., October 10, 1985 - April 6, 1986. "At the Water's Edge: 19th and 20th Century American Beach Scenes," Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Fla., December 9, 1989 - March 4, 1990; Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, Fla., May 4 - June 17, 1990; Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, Va., July 8 - September 2, 1990. "Beach Bound!! Long Island's Summer Playground," The Long Island Museum of American Art, History and Carriages, Stony Brook, N.Y., May 29 - October 31, 2004. "Behind the Seen: The Chrysler's Hidden Museum," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., October 21, 2005 - February 19, 2006. "Reopening of the Joan P. Brock Galleries," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., Opening in March of 2008. "American Treasures at the Willoughby-Baylor House," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 2 - December 1, 2013. "Come Together, Right Now: The Art of Gathering," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, October 11, 2020 - January 3, 2021.Published ReferencesElizabeth McCausland, _The Life and Work of Edward Lamson Henry N.A., 1841-1919_ (New York: Kennedy Graphics, Inc., Da Capo Press, 1970), 89, 97, 131, 176-177, fig. 49, cat. no. 154. Dennis R. Anderson, _Three Hundred Years of American Art in the Chrysler Museum_, exh. cat., Norfolk, Va., 1975, 119. "Parrish Exhibit to Focus on Important LI Artists,"_Antiques & Collectibles_ (July 1981) page unknown, illustrated. Phyllis Braff, "From the Studio," _The East Hampton Star_ (September 17, 1981): 2. Ronald G. Pisano, _The Long Island Landscape, 1865-1914: The Halcyon Years_ exh. cat., The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, N.Y., 1981, no. 40. ISBN: 0943526000 Helen A. Harrison, "L.I. as an 'Amusement Park'," _The New York Times_ Weekend Section (November 3, 1985): 28. Ronald G. Pisano, _Long Island Landscape Painting, 1820-1920_ (Boston: A New York Graphic Society Book: Little, Brown and Company, 1985), 56-57. ISBN: 0821215981 _At the Water's Edge: 19th and 20th Century American Beach Scenes_, exh. cat., Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Fla., 1989, 68, 123, 130. ISBN: 1878293036 Martha N. Hagood and Jefferson C. Harrison, _American Art at the Chrysler Museum: Selected Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings_ (Norfolk, Va.: Chrysler Museum of Art, 2005), 109, no. 66. ISBN: 0-940744-71-6
Giovanni Paolo Panini
1745
