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

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YMSM 285
A Coast Scene with Boats

Artist: Formerly attributed to James McNeill Whistler
Date: 1900/1903
Collection: Private Collection
Accession Number: none
Medium: oil
Support: wood
Size: 14 x 23.5 cm (5 1/2 x 9 1 1/5")
Signature: butterfly
Inscription: none

A Coast Scene with Boats

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 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).

Notes:

1: Since the Impressionists, Wildenstein & Co., London, 1945 (cat. no. 42).

2: Sotheby's, London, 19 March 1946 (lot 242).

3: YMSM 1980 [more] (cat. no. 285).

4: Dated note, October 1971, GUL WPP files.

Last updated: 11th March 2020 by Margaret