Titles

No title dating from Whistler's time is known. Alternative titles have been suggested:

• 'Seascape' (1945, Wildenstein). 1
• 'A Coast Scene with Boats' (1946, Sotheby's). 2
• 'A Coast Scene with Boats' (1980, YMSM). 3

'A Coast Scene with Boats' is the preferred title.

Description

A Coast Scene with Boats , photograph, 1980

A beach scene in horizontal format. There are three seagulls and a piece of wood on the shore. Further along the beach several men stand by two small sailing boats drawn up on the shore. A series of low promontories are seen across the bay.

Site

Unknown.

Comments

The inclusion of seagulls and a piece of flotsam would be extremely unusual for Whistler, and the technique and subject are not consistent with Whistler's work.

In 1971 Andrew McLaren Young (1913-1975) expressed doubts about the authorship of this work. 4

It is possible that it was painted by one of Whistler's students and 'apprentices', Clifford Isaac Addams (1876-1942) or Inez Eleanor Addams (1874-1958).