Seascape: Sunset

1861

Martin Johnson Heade American, 1819-1904

Not On View

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

Heade’s depictions of the sea are characteristically disquieting, with harsh, cold light, jutting rocks, and dark, empty water. This painting is a prime example in a series of coastal views painted by Heade in the 1860s, all apparently stimulated by the Rhode Island coast. Intent on conveying mood and capturing the fleeting, often hostile elements of nature, Heade sacrificed realistic representation, while elongating form, distorting perspective, and exaggerating color contrasts. The soft ribbons of the clouds, chosen to reinforce the horizontal rhythms of the composition, are a signature of Heade’s work. The incoming waves, frozen in time at the peak of cresting, contribute to the surreal effect.

Title Seascape: Sunset

Artwork Date 1861

Artist Martin Johnson Heade

Life Dates 1819-1904

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. American

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 26 × 44 inches (66 × 111.8 cm) Framed: 39 1/4 × 57 1/4 × 4 1/2 inches (99.7 × 145.4 × 11.4 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department American Art before 1950

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 1995.26

Markings

Signed Signed and dated, lower left, under rocks: M.J. Heade | 1861

Inscriptions Original colorman stencil, on verso: Vose & Jenckes | dealers in artist materials, | frames, engravers & co. | Prov. RI

Provenance

1959, Maxim Karolik collection (Newport, Rhode Island, USA). Mr. J. Watson Webb. his wife, Electra Havemeyer Webb. Shelburne Museum (Shelburne, Vermont, USA). 1991-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

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Provenance page

Exhibition History

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Published References

Boston.Williams & Everett, 1861. [possibly this picture]

National Academy of Design. New York, 1861, no. 227. [as Marine Sunset]

New York Daily Tribune. (March 27, 1861): p. 8.

New York World. (April 6, 1861): p. 3.

Stebbins, T.E., Jr. The Life and Works of Martin Johnson Heade. New Haven, 1975, p. 220, no. 43 (ill.).

Muller, N.C. Paintings and Drawings at the Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont. Exh. cat., Shelburne Museum. Shelburne, VT, 1976, p. 74, no. 158 (ill.).

The Hudson River School: Congenial Observations. Exh. cat., Alexander Gallery. New York, 1987, no. 11 (ill.).

Cumming, Robert. Art: A Field Guide. New York, 2001, p. 115 (ill.).

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Martin Johnson Heade, Seascape: Sunset, 1861, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Robert H. Tannahill Foundation Fund, 1995.26.