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

 

YMSM 280
Low Tide

Artist: James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1884/1886
Collection: Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Accession Number: F1902.156a-b
Medium: oil
Support: wood
Size: 13.8 x 23.5 cm (5 3/8 x 9 1/4")
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: none
Frame: Large Dowdeswell, 1884 [14.1 cm]

Low Tide

Titles

Whistler's original title is not known. Only one title has been suggested:

  • 'Low Tide' (1912, National Museum, Washington). 1
  • 'Low Tide' (1980, YMSM). 2

Description

Low Tide, Freer Gallery of Art
Low Tide, Freer Gallery of Art

A beach scene in horizontal format. A wide expanse of beach leads to several small boats drawn up high on the beach, and sheds and houses behind them.

Site

A view of the harbour at St Ives, Cornwall, with the Sloop Inn visible to right of the black timber shacks. 3

Notes:

1: Selection of Art Objects from The Freer Collection, National Museum, Washington, DC, 1912 (cat. no. 7).

2: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 280).

3: Robins 2007 [more] , pp. 26, 181n.15, repr. fig. 18. Gilbert, Henry, Roy Ray, and Colin Orchard, All About St. Ives: A Guide to the Town, its Galleries and Art History, [St Ives], 2006, p. 59.

Last updated: 25th November 2020 by Margaret