The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Shore, Pourville dates from one of Whistler's trips to Dieppe and Pourville, between July and September 1899 or in the following year. ¹

The Shore, Pourville, Ashmolean Museum

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

Grey and Gold: High Tide at Pourville, Freer Gallery of Art

It was probably painted around the same time as several other seascapes including The Sea, Pourville, No. 1 y516 and Grey and Gold: High Tide at Pourville y523.

It was almost certainly the ‘[Sea piece.] (3 figures in foreground.) Pourville.’ listed by Whistler’s ward, Miss R. Birnie Philip, among the small panels in Whistler’s studio at 8 Fitzroy Street on 16 February 1901. ²

Images

Subject

Titles

Whistler's original title is not known. Suggested titles are as follows:

• 'The Beach, Pourville' (1955, Colnaghi). ³
• ‘The Shore, Pourville’ (1960, Arts Council). ⁴
• 'The Shore, Pourville' (1980, YMSM). ⁵

'The Shore, Pourville' is the preferred title.

Description

The Shore, Pourville, Ashmolean Museum

A view of the sea from a beach, in horizontal format. Two figures stand on the wet grey/beige beach at left, and a smaller figure, more or less a smudge, to their right at the water's edge. The green sea is rough, with creamy white breakers. The sky is pale blue and turquoise with scattered fluffy white and lilac/grey clouds.

Site

Pourville on the coast of France.

Technique

Composition

It is possible that there was originally a boat in the surf at left, above and to left of the figures, where there are several unexplained diagonal brushstrokes underlying the frothy surf.

Technique

The Shore, Pourville, Ashmolean Museum

As in all the paintings of Pourville, the colours are subdued, with dark brown figures on a dark beach. However, the rich shades of sea-green, warm greys and deep turquoise makes this probably the most attractive of the series. The panel may have had a light grey undercoat but if so it was very thin, and the red wood of the panel glows through the long brushstrokes of thin paint. ⁶

Conservation History

The line of the horizon is uneven, and it is not clear if there is a slightly blurred ship on the horizon at right, and some areas over painted or repaired at upper right. Likewise in the foreground, to right of centre, there are rough patches that may be the result of alterations or repairs. There are slight vertical abrasion at both sides.

Frame

Labels on the verso read 'Mr Flower', '133 New Bond Street', '1553 / J. M. Whistler', and a chalk date, 'Dec 17 04'. Wickham Flower (1835-1904) bought two paintings exhibited by Whistler at Dowdeswell's, 133 New Bond Street in 1884: An Orange Note: Sweet Shop y264 and Note in Blue and Opal: The Sun Cloud y271. Both were sold at auction at Christie's on 17 December 1904 (lot 39 and 40) and bought by Colnaghi's. It would appear that the labels or the frame were switched from one of these oils to the later panel, The Shore, Pourville y521, presumably by Colnaghi's.

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler’s studio at his death and bequeathed to his executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1955: sold by her to Colnaghi, London dealers, in May 1955 (a/c A3260);
• 1955/1960: sold by them to Judge Francis Falconer Madan (1886-1961), London;
• 1961: bequeathed by Madan to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, in November 1961.

Exhibitions

• It was not, as far as is known, exhibited in Whistler's lifetime.

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. 521), plate 340, as 'The Shore, Pourville'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• Taylor, Hilary, James McNeill Whistler, London, 1978, p. 143, repr. p. 140.

Books, General

• Collier, Caroline, Anna Greutzner Robins, and John Willett, The Dieppe Connection. The Town and its Artists from Turner to Braque, Royal Pavilion, Art Gallery and Museums, Brighton, p. 23.

Catalogues 1906-Present

COLLECTION:

• Casley, Catherine, Colin Harrison, and Jon Whiteley, The Ashmolean Museum: Complete Illustrated Catalogue of Paintings, Oxford, 2004, p. 243.

EXHIBITION:

• Young, A. McLaren, James McNeill Whistler, Arts Council Gallery, London, and Knoedler Galleries, New York, 1960 (cat. no. 75).
• Memorial exhibition of paintings and drawings from the collection of Francis Falconer Madan, P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, 1962 (cat. no. 24).

Journals 1906-Present

• Dorment, Richard, 'The reopening of the Ashmolean Museum', The Telegraph, London, 2 November 2009.

Newspapers 1906-Present

Websites

• ArtUK website at https://artuk.org.

Unpublished

• None.

Other

• None.