Detail from The Canal, Amsterdam, 1889, James McNeill Whistler, The Hunterian, University of Glasgow

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YMSM 483
Harmony in Blue and Silver: Beaching the Boat, Étretat

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1897-1898
Collection: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Accession Number: 1943.175
Medium: oil
Support: wood
Size: 136 x 235 mm (5 3/8 x 9 1/4")
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: none
Frame: Grau-style, American, M. Grieve, ca 1930
print

Harmony in Blue and Silver: Beaching the Boat, Étretat

Titles

Several possible titles have been suggested:

  • 'Beaching the boat Etretat (Blue & Silver)' (1901, R. Birnie Philip). 1
  • 'A Harmony in Blue and Silver' (1905, ISSPG). 2
  • 'Beaching the Boat (Harmony in Blue and Silver)' (1908, Pennell). 3
  • 'Harmony in Blue and Silver: Beaching the Boat, Etretat' (1910, Studio). 4
  • 'Harmony in Blue and Silver: Beaching the Boat, Étretat' (1980, YMSM). 5

An inscription on an old photograph in Glasgow University Library confirms the title given in Whistler's ledger in 1901 (cited above), although neither is written in the artist's hand.

'Harmony in Blue and Silver: Beaching the Boat, Étretat' is the generally accepted title.

Description

Harmony in Blue and Silver: Beaching the Boat, Étretat, Fogg Museum
Harmony in Blue and Silver: Beaching the Boat, Étretat, Fogg Museum

A sea view in horizontal format. Fishermen are beaching a small fishing boat at left. The green sea is stormy, with white breakers, particularly behind the boat. Land is faintly visible in the distance at left and right. The sky is cloudy, wind-swept.

Site

Étretat, a fishing port and popular holiday resort in Normandy on the French coast between Le Havre and Dieppe. Whistler was recuperating there with his in-laws, the Birnie Philips. It was a popular subject for artists including Whistler's former mentor Jean-Désiré-Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) and his friend Claude Oscar Monet (1840-1926).

Notes:

1: Note, 19 February 1901, GUL Whistler BP II Ledger c, pp. 5-6.

2: 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. 55).

3: Pennell 1908 [more], vol. 2, repr. f.p. 184.

4: Anon., 'Studio Talk', Studio, vol. 49, February 1910, pp. 43-44, repr. p. 2.

5: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 483).

Last updated: 18th October 2020 by Margaret