• The Anchorage
  • The Anchorage

The Anchorage

A group of vessels at anchor; a narrow beach in the foreground; one figure; signed with butterfly near the left edge.
Maker nationality and date
1834-1903
Date(s)
1882-1884
Medium
Watercolor on paper
Dimension(s)
H x W: 25.3 x 17.8 cm (9 15/16 x 7 in)
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Object Number
F1902.173a-b
Production location
England, Southend-on-Sea
Theme
Riverview
Signature(s)
Black butterfly in lower left quadrant
Provenance
Exhibition History
Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell, "Notes"—"Harmonies"—"Nocturnes", May 1884
Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell, "Notes"—"Harmonies"—"Nocturnes", May 1886
Freer Gallery of Art, American Paintings, Pastels, and Water Colors, and Drawings. J.A.McN. Whistler, May 2, 1923 to January 7, 1924
Selected Curatorial Remarks

1. Glazer, Jacobson, McCarthy, Roeder, wall label, 2019:
While traditional landscapes held little interest for Whistler, he claimed, "The sea to me, is, and always was, most fascinating!" Rendered with simplicity, his seascapes of Southend, a popular seaside destination south of London, rely on broad washes of color with sparse detail. Whistler was a master at creating a mixture of pigments that produced a tonally balanced palette. His seascapes were often organized in a three-part composition of sky, sea, and shore.

2. Katherine Roeder, 2018:
Dates changed to reflect the fact that Southend scenes were painted after Whistler's purchase of art supplies from Roberson & Co. in the fall of 1881, and prior to the spring Dowdeswell Gallery exhibition of 1884.

Selected Published References
1. Curry: James McNeill Whistler at the Freer Gallery of Art, Pg. 182
Conscious design dominates The Anchorage, revealing the impact of Japanese art. We look downward from an unspecified vantage point, while the spatial recession has been flattened and sharply tilted forward. Whistler divided the paper into horizontal registers: beach, sea, and sky. Further registers were created within each element–the linear fence echoes stripes of gray and green water. These formal divisions never become boring, however. The fence is set at a slight angle, repeated by dry little jackstraws of rust and gray-brown that represent masts. Anchored ships form a dark mass asymmetrically placed on the sheet but held in perfect balance by equally dark rocks at the left and a figure silhouetted on the beach. Whistler's butterfly was colored and placed to maintain the surface tension.
Catalogue Raisonne number
M887
MacDonald Catalogue number
Previous owner(s)
Henry Studdy Theobald (C.L. Freer source) (1847-1934)
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)
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