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

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YMSM 518
Green and Silver: The Great Sea

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1899
Collection: The Hunterian, University of Glasgow
Accession Number: GLAHA 46351
Medium: oil
Support: wood
Size: 171 x 248 mm (6 3/8 x 9 3/4")
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: none
Frame: Grau-style, 1890s
print

Green and Silver: The Great Sea

Titles

Possible titles include:

  • 'Green and Silver – The Great Sea' (1901, ISSPG). 1
  • 'La Grande Mer: Pourville' (1915, Colnaghi). 2
  • 'La Grande Mer – Pourville' (1935, Colnaghi). 3
  • 'Green and Silver: The Great Sea' (1980, YMSM). 4

The 1980 title is based on that of 1901 with punctuation adapted to be consistent with other titles.

Description

Green and Silver: The Great Sea, The Hunterian, Glasgow
Green and Silver: The Great Sea, The Hunterian, Glasgow

A seascape in horizontal format. A stormy green sea breaks on the grey/brown beach, under a bright cloudy sky, with patches of turquoise blue.

Site

The beach at Pourville-sur-mer on the French coast, a popular holiday resort and port, where Whistler was staying with his in-laws, the Birnie-Philips, at the Pavillon Madeleine.

Notes:

1: 3rd Exhibition, Pictures, Drawings, Prints and Sculptures, International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers, Galleries of the Royal Institute, London, 1901 (cat. no. 36).

2: Loan Exhibition of Works by James McNeill Whistler to aid the Professional Classes War Relief Council, Messrs Colnaghi, London, 1915 (cat. no. 16).

3: James McNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1935 (cat. no. 4).

4: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 518).

Last updated: 13th November 2020 by Margaret