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Lot Essay
Sanford Gifford’s masterfully refined renditions of the nineteenth-century American landscape are exceptionally articulate visions of nature. In the present work, the artist depicts a stunning evening on the Hudson River with his renowned attention to detail and deft use of atmospheric perspective and light. The present work demonstrates why Gifford’s contemporary Henry T. Tuckerman called the artist “a noble interpreter of American scenery,” enthusing that “his best pictures can be not merely seen but contemplated with entire satisfaction...they do not dazzle, they win.” (Book of the Artists, New York, 1967, pp. 524-25)
According to Dr. Ila Weiss, the present work is related to an exhibition piece presented at the National Academy in 1878 and currently in the collection of the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York. An undated, smaller sketch of the composition is also known. Dr. Weiss explains: “The development of the subject, clearly seen in the three known examples of Sunset Over New York Bay, is characteristic of Gifford…Most likely the original drawings were done on a boat in the bay.”
Compared to the earlier sketch, the present work “tightens the compositional structure while exaggerating expressive elements. It lowers the horizon and distances the shipping from the observer, thus enlarging the space and intensifying its impact. The sailing vessels are reduced in number and more carefully arranged as vertical shapes against the strong horizon, effecting classical order and a mood of serenity…A spot of raking light on the hull of the nearer vessel, doubled in reflection, that was captured in the smaller sketch is further emphasized in the more developed image. Between these two compositional weights, a near-center, bold, dramatically orange-lighted cloud mass is exaggerated to further stabilize the iconic centered composition.”
The exaggerated twilight sky in Sunset Over New York Bay is a reflection of Gifford's fascination with J.M.W. Turner's dramatic depictions of sunset, but tempered by his own attention to accuracy and tendency toward tranquility. Dr. Weiss elaborates, “He acclaimed Turner's ‘splendid vision of a painter’ and ‘varied brilliancy of color’ that he had ‘never seen equaled.’…In many of his own paintings, including those of Sunset Over New York Bay, he corrected the position of the sun—the time of day—to justify a similar color extravagance. He also eschewed Turner's spatial turmoil and rough execution, instead establishing an affecting mood of quietude and poetic subtlety—intensifying to breathless exaltation in examples such as this—that perfectly expressed his unique sensibility.” (unpublished letter, 16 June 2013)
According to Dr. Ila Weiss, the present work is related to an exhibition piece presented at the National Academy in 1878 and currently in the collection of the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York. An undated, smaller sketch of the composition is also known. Dr. Weiss explains: “The development of the subject, clearly seen in the three known examples of Sunset Over New York Bay, is characteristic of Gifford…Most likely the original drawings were done on a boat in the bay.”
Compared to the earlier sketch, the present work “tightens the compositional structure while exaggerating expressive elements. It lowers the horizon and distances the shipping from the observer, thus enlarging the space and intensifying its impact. The sailing vessels are reduced in number and more carefully arranged as vertical shapes against the strong horizon, effecting classical order and a mood of serenity…A spot of raking light on the hull of the nearer vessel, doubled in reflection, that was captured in the smaller sketch is further emphasized in the more developed image. Between these two compositional weights, a near-center, bold, dramatically orange-lighted cloud mass is exaggerated to further stabilize the iconic centered composition.”
The exaggerated twilight sky in Sunset Over New York Bay is a reflection of Gifford's fascination with J.M.W. Turner's dramatic depictions of sunset, but tempered by his own attention to accuracy and tendency toward tranquility. Dr. Weiss elaborates, “He acclaimed Turner's ‘splendid vision of a painter’ and ‘varied brilliancy of color’ that he had ‘never seen equaled.’…In many of his own paintings, including those of Sunset Over New York Bay, he corrected the position of the sun—the time of day—to justify a similar color extravagance. He also eschewed Turner's spatial turmoil and rough execution, instead establishing an affecting mood of quietude and poetic subtlety—intensifying to breathless exaltation in examples such as this—that perfectly expressed his unique sensibility.” (unpublished letter, 16 June 2013)