Meditation by the Sea: Splendid 1860s Folk Art by Unknown Artist

Summary: Meditation by the Sea, an 1860s painting in folk art/Hudson River School styles by an unknown artist, is on view in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.

Meditation by the Sea, ca. 1860s oil on canvas by unknown artist; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFABoston), Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood, western Boston, eastern coastal Massachusetts: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Meditation by the Sea is an oil on canvas painting created by an unknown artist in the 1860s.

The painting’s dimensions measure a height of 13 5/8 inches (34.61 centimeters) and a width of 19 5/8 inches (49.85 centimeters). Meditation by the Sea presents a solitary figure, clothed in black, standing amid a clutter of tidal debris and thoughtfully pondering white-crested waves breaking nearby on the shore.

The unknown artist displayed influences of the Hudson River School, which flourished from around 1850 to 1900 as an artistic fraternity of landscape painters originally based in New York City. Credit for founding the mid-19th century art movement generally is bestowed upon English émigré artist Thomas Cole (Feb. 1, 1801–Feb. 11, 1848), whose interest in landscapes motivated his settling in New York City in 1825. The Hudson River School’s second generation of artists refined vistas of nature’s grandeur and sublime beauty through the light-in-the-landscape technique and style of Luminism, especially exemplified by Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826–April 7, 1900) and Nathaniel Rogers “Fitz Henry” Lane (Dec. 19, 1804–Aug. 14, 1865).

The unknown artist styled Meditation by the Sea with elements of folk art, the untrained, usually colorful artistry of everyday people. Naïve depictions of perspective and proportion starkly heighten the aesthetic impact of the marine landscape.

An inspiration for Meditation by the Sea has been sourced to Gay Head, a wood engraving by magazine illustrator and writer David Hunter Strother (Sept. 26, 1816–March 8, 1888) under his pseudonym of Porte Crayon (French: porte-crayon, “pencil/crayon holder”).

Gay Head appeared in Porte Crayon’s article, “A Summer in New England,” published Sept. 21, 1860, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine. Porte Crayon’s article described the ocean as invoking awe with unceasing rolling since “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2) and conveying the waters’ “tumultuous spirit” during a leisurely stroll amidst the beach’s tide-strewn curiosities.

Provenance, or record of ownership, traces to the New York gallery of German émigré art dealer Israel Ber “J.B.” Neumann (March 2, 1887–April 28, 1961) as a purchase in 1943 by Russian émigré tenor opera singer and art collector Maxim Karolik (1893–Dec. 20, 1963).

On Dec. 13, 1945, Maxim Karolik gifted Meditation by the Sea to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston, Massachusetts. Museum visitors may view Meditation by the Sea in the Joyce and Edward Linde Gallery (Gallery 237).

Viewing Meditation by the Sea face-to-face numbers among the multitude of high points enjoyed during a visit to Massachusett’s historic capital by the sea.

The luminous painting provides an unforgettable vista for sea admirers as well as for enthusiasts of folk art and of sea paintings.

Visitor information: Hours
Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday: 10:00 a.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday: 10:00 a.m. – 9:45 p.m.
closed: New Year’s Day, Patriot’s Day (third Monday in April), July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day
early closing at 4:45 p.m.: Thanksgiving Eve, Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve

Contact details:
URL for Meditation by the Sea: http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/meditation-by-the-sea-32950
MFA URL: http://www.mfa.org
address: 465 Huntington Avenue (aka Avenue of the Arts), Boston, Massachusetts 02115
telephone: (617) 267-9300

Gay Head, 1860 wood engraving by Porte Crayon (pseudonym of American artist and journalist David Hunter Strother, Sep. 26, 1816-March 8, 1888), Harper's New Monthly Magazine, no. CXXIV. vol. XXI (September 1860), illustration 290, page 447: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Meditation by the Sea, ca. 1860s oil on canvas by unknown artist; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFABoston), Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood, western Boston, eastern coastal Massachusetts: Cornell University, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meditation_by_the_Sea.jpg

Gay Head, 1860 wood engraving by Porte Crayon (pseudonym of American artist and journalist David Hunter Strother, Sep. 26, 1816-March 8, 1888), Harper's New Monthly Magazine, no. CXXIV. vol. XXI (September 1860), illustration 290, page 447: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gay_Head.jpg;
Public Domain, via HathiTrust @ https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924080769510&seq=457&view=1up; (also: Link to this page scan @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924080769510?urlappend=%3Bseq=457);

For further information:

"Meditation by the Sea." Museum of Fine Arts Boston > Collections > Artwork.
Available via MFA @ http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/meditation-by-the-sea-32950

Miller, Richard; Avis Berman; Cynthia G. Falk; Lisa Minardi; Ralph Sessions. A Shared Legacy: Folk Art in America. Alexandria VA: Art Services International; New York NY: Skira Rizzoli, 2014.

Strother, D.H. (David Hunter). “Summer in New England.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 21, No. 124 (September 1860): 442- 461.
Available via Cornell University @ http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=harp;cc=harp;rgn=full%20text;idno=harp0021-4;didno=harp0021-4;view=image;seq=452;node=harp0021-4%3A1;page=root;size=100

Tessier, Adam. Treasures of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. 2nd edition. New York NY; London UK: Abbeville Press Publishers, 2015.