The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Sea, Pourville, No. 2 probably dates from Whistler's sojourn on the French coast in July and August 1899. ¹

The Sea, Pourville, No. 2, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

It is dated from the technique, signature, and similarity to other paintings including Green and Silver: The Great Sea y518 and The Sea, Pourville y520.

Images

Subject

Titles

Possible titles include:

• Possibly 'The Sea, Pourville' (1905, ISSPG). ²
• 'The Sea, Pourville, No. 2' (1980, YMSM). ³

The Sea, Pourville, No. 2, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

The Sea, Pourville, No. 1, The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls

The number is used to distinguish this painting, The Sea, Pourville, No. 2, from The Sea, Pourville, No. 1 y516 but it does not mean that the Pourville works were painted in a particular order.

Description

The Sea, Pourville, No. 2, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

A beach scene in horizontal format, showing a wide stretch of dark grey beach leading to breakers and dark green seas, under a grey cloudy sky. There are cliffs at far left, and a sailing ship barely visible at the horizon.

Site

The port of Pourville on the French coast, a popular holiday destination.

Technique

Technique

The Sea, Pourville, No. 2, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute

A grey sky and a dark grey beach, painted on a grey primed panel, are lightened by touches of white painted with a tiny pointed brush on the pale green waves. The very dark square butterfly was originally painted 2.5 cm (1") to the left.

Conservation History

The Sea, Pourville, No. 2, photograph, 1920s?

The Sea, Pourville, No. 2, photograph, 1980

Photographs reveal some abrasion and damage to the paint at the edges, plus some craquelure.

Frame

Frame size, 36.2 x 45.7 x 3.8 cm (14 1/4 x 18 x 1 ½").

The Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute website discussed it in detail:

'One of the most influential figures in reform style frame design was James McNeill Whistler. In Paris in the 1860s he began using a type of frame that has come to be known as the "Whistler frame." It is not clear whether the Museum's frame was made under Whistler's supervision or if it is simply a copy of his innovative design. In either case, the mitered corner joints are well crafted and oil gilding was applied directly on the surface so the wood grain would show through. The clusters of thin, machine-cut, reeded ornament are one of the most characteristic features of a Whistler-style frame. Another important feature, the broad, unornamented frieze, derives from 15th-century Venetian cassetta-style frames. In sum, the restrained profile and tonalities of this frame complements the subdued colors and flat, decorative quality of Whistler's painting.

The raised outer edge of the frame's fluted cove is crowned with a fish scale pattern that changes direction at the center of the top rail and near the top left and lower right stiles. The outermost edge is decorated with delicate foliate scrollwork over a reeded ground. White bole, which would have been applied to the ornament before gilding, is visible along the lower section of the frame where the gold leaf has been worn off, probably the result of an overly conscientious cleaning of the surface at some time. The frame's original bright, gilded finish can be seen along the bottom of the frame where a label that was originally affixed to the frame was recently removed.' ⁴

This style of decoration was used by Whistler in the 1870s, and not in the 1890s when this painting was completed.

History

Provenance

• By 1905: owned by Alexander Arnold Hannay (1858-1927), London.
• 1919: sold by Knoedler's, London art dealers, to David Croal Thomson (1855-1930), Barbizon House, London;
• 1919: sold to Henrietta Richardson Hind (Mrs C. Lewis Hind) (1862-1938), London.
• 1920: sold at auction, Mrs John F. Carroll Collection and others sale, Anderson Galleries, New York, 5-6 February 1920 (lot 116) as 'The Sea, Pourville, II'.
• 1963: given by Governor W. Averell Harriman (1891-1986) and his wife Marie Norton Harriman (Mrs W. A. Harriman) (1903-1970) to the Albany Institute of History and Art, NY, in December 1963;
• 1974: sold by the Albany Institute to the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute in March 1974.

A. A. Hannay lent this painting (or possibly The Sea, Pourville, No. 1 y516) to exhibitions in 1905 and 1912. He probably sold it to Knoedler's. In Knoedler's records it had the a/c numbers 6404, 14699 and 15826. There are several gaps in the provenance.

Exhibitions

• 1905: possibly Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 64) as 'The Sea, Pourville'.

The size given for the painting exhibited in London in 1905 was 4 x 6 ½ inches, which is not correct for either The Sea, Pourville, No. 1 y516 or The Sea, Pourville, No. 2 y519 but is nearer to the latter.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 519), plate 332, as 'The Sea, Pourville, No. 2'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

EXHIBITION:

• Possibly Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the late James McNeill Whistler, First President of The International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, New Gallery, Regent Street, London, 1905 (cat. no. 64) as 'The Sea, Pourville'.

SALE:

• Anderson Galleries, New York, 5-6 February 1920 (lot 116) as 'The Sea, Pourville, II'.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• None.

Books, General

• Baldry, Alfred Lys, in G. Holme (ed.), British Marine Painting, London, 1919, repr. p. 69.

Catalogues 1906-Present

EXHIBITION:

• Loan Collection of Works by James McNeill Whistler, Tate Gallery, London, 1912 (cat. no. 33).
• Spink, Nesta, Whistler: The Later Years, University of Michigan Art Gallery, Ann Arbor, 1978 (cat. no. 45).

SALE:

• Mrs John F. Carroll Collection and others sale, Anderson Galleries, New York, 5-6 February 1920 (lot 116) as 'The Sea, Pourville, II'.

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• 'PDS', August 2010, on Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute website at http://www.mwpai.org (acc. 2010).
• MWPAI Online Collections, website at http://collections.mwpai.org.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 399).

Other

• None.