Evening star., 1936-08-08
SEAS FASCINATION
Specialists in Marine Painting Credited With
Bringing Fame to America Ex-
amples Proudly Exhibited Here.

He painted the sea as he saw it in
midocean. rather than from the land.
limitless in expanSe, spacious beyond
belief. His works are lyrical, reti-
cent, purely interpretative The Cor
coran Gallery of Art has his Moon
light on Calm Sea-" the National
Gallery "On the South Strand" and
his Christ Walking on the Water
has been given by his widow TO the
Washington Cathedral on Mount st.
Alban. Carlsen spared no pains to
attain perfection of technique. spe-
cially preparing his canvases and
giving particular regard to the chem
ical properties of his colors and the
rendition of surfaces, textures, even
the texture of the waves. He was a
tireleSS student-an artist of subtle
and sensitive nature; in large measure
he possesses poetic vision and it is
this which is manifested in his ma
rineS.
Woodbury., who for many years has
had Summer home and studio in
Ogunquit, gives both in his paintings
and etchings quite another version of
the sea. To him there is something
analogous between sea and land, be-
tween mountains and great ocean
waves. 1t is not the surf breaking
into foam that he has as a rule
chosen to represent but the swinging
billows which give indication of power
beneath. Like Homer, he indicates
both weight and motion of water, but
it is rhythm that interests him rather
than force. Woodbury's paintings
and etchings of the sea stir the emo
tionS, one likes them very much CT
not at all; to be indifferent to them
is impossible. He is unfortunately
very inadequately represented in our
local and national collections. The
Corcoran Gallery owns one OF his
paintings of Mount Monadnock; his
work is not included in the National
Gallery at all save in the Smith
sonian Print Collection.
Earlier than any of these paint
ers in point of time Except Winslow
Homer were two painters of the sea
who deserve, with them, perpetual
honor and remembrance. They are
William T. Richards, represented IN
the Corcoran Gallery of Art by a large
painting entitled "On the Coast of
New Jersey"-painted in 1883 to order
for the gallery-and Alexander Har-
rison, whose painting Twilight" won
honor in the Paris salon before being
acquired by the Corcoran Gallery of
Art. Both of these men we're Phila-
delphians. Richards. the elder by 20
years. was born in 1888 and lived un-
til 1905. He and Harrison both stud
led abroad and the latter took up his
residence in Paris. was made che
Waller of the Legion of Honor of
France and an officer of Public In
struction under the French govern
/ ment.
Writing on Marine Painting" some
years ago, Birge Harrison, Alexander
Harrison's brother, who was also a
painter and teacher. said of Richards:
Even today he must be ranked
among the master craftsmen of the
sea. He never depicted the ocean in
boisterous mood; but what he Gid
he did better than any one who had
preceded him" 1t has become GUS
tomary today to regard Richards
marines as Photographic and artis-
tically unimportant, but who else
has ever set forth the ocean on the
sandy shore so we'll or so beautifully?
How especially we'll has he repre-
sented the wash of the water over the
hard, fiat sand; how vividly and yet
with what reserve he has recalled all
that enchants and allures in such q
scene.
"TWILIGHT," by Harrison, shows
= to a slight degree the new
thought awakening toward art IN
| Paris at the time it was painted,
Here is an effect transcribed rather
than a portrait of place. 1t is more
personal, to be sure, more open TO
individual Interpretation, but in the
end by no means profound. Accord
ing to Gertrude STEMS definition, the
Harrison would be the more interesting
of these two paintings, because it is
| primarily paint on canvas" rather
than the illusion of reaIty-an imita-
tion or copy of nature. But n the
| long run, the public would probably
vote for "On the New Jersey Coast"
and those who would do so need feel
no shame.
All of these painters mentioned 50
far have specialized in paintings OF
the sea, but there are others that have
turned to such subjects occasionally
and rendered them with great sue.
cess. Outstanding examples are two
paintings in the Corcoran Gallery Of
Art, The Land and the Sea-" by
Paul Dougherty, which one critic has
declared to be among the finest
marines ever painted. and "On the
Coast of Cornwall" a comparatively
recent work by Walter Elmer Scho.
field. The former pictures dee1
water, green and limpid, washing
against towering cliff, dark colored
perpendicular; the latter shows III
the tides encroaching on the sand,
of cove, embraced and protected by
hilly shores partly covered by verdure
Again in the Dougherty We have ar
epic of the sea, whereas in the sun.
lit canvas by Schofeld the lyric quail
ity is inSistent.
In these later days, another Amer,
ican marine painter has come to tht
fore and made a name for himself
This is Stanley w. Woodward, ar
exhibition of whose water colors d
the sea was held in the Arts Club
last season. Mr.. Woodward paints ir
both oils and water colors and alse
etches. In style, he is perhaps mort
like Waugh and Homer, but he hal
an individuality all his own. He is
diligent student and a very gifted
painter.
Surely lovers Of the sea, marooned
in Washington during the hot SummeI
months, must find in these marine
paintings much by way of pleasure
and refreshment. And who does no
love the sea save those who, through