The Angry Sea
date: label: Date
content: 1883 or 1884
name: label: Artist
content: James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903)
notes: label: Label
content: The Angry Sea is one of the sparest and most abstract of Whistler's small oils. When Whistler exhibited it at the Dowdeswells' gallery in 1884, unsympathetic reviewers complained that paintings like this were mere daubs, dismissing such efforts as unfinished sketches not fit for public display. The fashion writer for the Court Circular damned The Angry Sea with ironic praise, noting that "this wonderful artist uses frames of greenish gold wherever the picture requires such a setting. A strip of angry grey-green sea, framed in green gold, against dull pink background [the color of the gallery walls] is an exquisite arrangement of colour."
label: Label
content: Quotation from "Causerie," Court Circular, May 24, 1884.
label: Provenance
content: To 1904
label: Provenance
content: John James Cowan (1846-1936), Edinburgh, Scotland, to 1904 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1904 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from John James Cowan, through William Marchant and Co, London, in June 1904 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Whistler List, Paintings, pg. 12, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Small Masterpieces: Whistler Paintings from the 1880s (April 2, 2005 to November 11, 2008)
label: Exhibition History
content: Mr. Whistler's Galleries: Avant-garde in Victorian London, 1883 (November 20, 2003 to April 4, 2004)
label: Exhibition History
content: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art—Whistler and the Landscape (May 11, 1984 to February 5, 1985)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings: James McNeill Whistler (November 11, 1976 to March 18, 1981)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler—Landscapes and Seascapes (October 14, 1969 to September 25, 1971)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Paintings (September 8, 1961 to October 15, 1969)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings (June 9, 1960 to September 8, 1961)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Whistler Watercolors, Oil Paintings, and Pastels (January 20, 1944 to October 13, 1947)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Oils Exhibition (January 8, 1925 to January 20, 1928)
label: Exhibition History
content: Whistler Pastels and Drawings, Re-arranged and some additions (January 7, 1924 to January 20, 1944)
label: Exhibition History
content: American Paintings by J.A.McN. Whistler (May 2, 1923 to January 8, 1925)
label: Exhibition History
content: Inaugural Loan Collection of Paintings (May 31 to July 1, 1905)
label: Exhibition History
content: 78th Exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture (Spring or Autumn of 1904)
label: Exhibition History
content: "Notes"—"Harmonies"—"Nocturnes" (May 1884)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: John James Cowan (1846-1936) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: United States
topic: label: Topic
content: water
label: Topic
content: ocean
label: Topic
content: United States
label: Topic
content: American Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1904.76a-c
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Oil on wood panel
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 12.4 x 21.7 cm (4 7/8 x 8 9/16 in)