The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler

Date

The Sea Shore, Dieppe may date from between 1888 and 1900. ¹

The Sea Shore, Dieppe, The Hunterian

The butterfly signature suggests a date of about 1888. The Sea Shore, Dieppe, as well as The Blue Sea y380 and Violet and Blue: The Little Bathers, Perros-Guirec y382 were probably painted when Whistler and his bride, Beatrice Philip (Mrs E. W. Godwin, Mrs J. McN. Whistler) (1857-1896), were on their honeymoon. On 25 August 1888 Alan Summerly Cole (1846-1934) noted in his diary that he had met them at Boulogne, 'J. sketching on sands.' ²

It is, however, just possible that this was painted when Whistler was in Dieppe in 1885 (see White and Grey: La Cour de l'hôtel, Dieppe y325 and Coast Scene: Bathers y326) and that the butterfly was added later.

Images

Subject

Titles

Whistler's original title is not known, although the title may be based on his, as remembered by his executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958):

• 'The Sea Shore – Dieppe' (1935, Glasgow). ³
• 'The Sea Shore, Dieppe' (1980, YMSM). ⁴

The punctuation was changed for the 1980 catalogue. 'The Sea Shore, Dieppe' is the preferred title.

Description

The Sea Shore, Dieppe, The Hunterian

A horizontal format seascape painted with delicate shades from cream to lilac in the cloudy sky, and pale green, turquoise and mauve in the sea. The beach in the foreground is grey, cream and beige, painted in short, uneven, squiggly strokes, and with the grey underpaint of the panel showing. A few straggly green spikes of foliage appear right in the foreground. About four women in white, grey and black are standing or walking by the sea. A large cargo ship is on the horizon in the centre, a ship – possibly a ferry – with sails as well as a funnel – is nearer and to right, and a small yacht between them, much nearer to the coast.

Site

The coast near the port of Dieppe, France. On their honeymoon the Whistlers spent two weeks in Brittany before travelling south to the Loire Valley, much of their time being spent in Dieppe, staying at the Hotel de la Plage.

Technique

Technique

The Sea Shore, Dieppe, The Hunterian

It is painted on a very small, thin (92 mm thick) panel of soft wood, identified as a single piece of pine, with 2-3 mm bevelled edges on the verso. ⁵ It was primed with a thin layer of light grey, and the scene was then painted thinly, with the same blue paint (probably Prussian blue) used in the sea and sky, and the grey undercoat showing, according to Dr Joyce H. Townsend, 'through the thin horizontal brushstrokes in the manner of a nocturne.' ⁶

The figures and ships were painted rather tentatively, with tiny, expressive brushstrokes. The beach was painted more roughly, possibly rather quickly, the paint appearing matte. The artist appears to have taken most care with the subtly varied shades of sea and sky, painted in long, fluid strokes. The butterfly signature is unusually large in proportion to the panel, and is in a glossier paint: it was probably added later.

Conservation History

There is probably some lead soap aggregate formation, giving a slightly pimply texture, particularly in the paint of the sea.

There is some damage to the edges, resulting in paint loss, the picture having been framed while still not entirely dry. There is very fine craquelure along the horizontal wood grain. It has a thin yellowed varnish. Although the panel is thin and fragile it and the painting are in good condition. ⁷

Frame

The Sea Shore, Dieppe, The Hunterian

The Sea Shore, Dieppe, frame detail

Grau Whistler, signed 'F H Grau - London', 33.0 x 38.9 x 5.4 cm. ⁸

History

Provenance

• 1903: in Whistler's studio at his death and bequeathed to Whistler's ward and executrix, Rosalind Birnie Philip (1873-1958);
• 1935: given by Miss R. Birnie Philip to the University of Glasgow

Exhibitions

It was not exhibited in Whistler's lifetime, as far as is known, although the 1890s frame suggests that it may have been intended for exhibition.

By the terms of Miss Birnie Philip's will, it cannot be lent to exhibitions outside Glasgow.

Bibliography

Catalogues Raisonnés

• Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer, and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980 (cat. no. 379), plate 239, as 'The Sea Shore, Dieppe'.

Authored by Whistler

• None.

Catalogues 1855-1905

• None.

Journals 1855-1905

• None.

Monographs

• None.

Books on Whistler

• None.

Books, General

• None.

Catalogues 1906-Present

• James McNeill Whistler, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, 1935 (cat. no. 7).

Journals 1906-Present

• None.

Websites

• The Hunterian website at http://collections.gla.ac.uk/#/details=ecatalogue.41130.
• ArtUk website at http://artuk.org.

Unpublished

• Revillon, Joseph Whistler, Draft Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings of J. McN. Whistler, [ca 1945-1955], Glasgow University Library (cat. no. 412).

Other

• Parkerson, Sarah Lawrence, Variations in Gold: The Stylistic Development of the Picture Frames used by James McNeill Whistlers, PhD thesis, University of Glasgow, 2007.