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Lot Essay
Sanford Gifford's masterfully refined and exquisite renditions of the nineteenth-century American landscape are exceptionally articulate visions of nature. Gifford's compositions, complemented by the artist's masterful use of light to convey emotion, are among the best conceived of the nineteenth century. Whether or not Sanford Gifford's style can be definitively characterized as luminist, it is certain that Gifford shares the luminist artists' preoccupation with light, atmosphere and painstaking attention to detail. Although his painterly technique, which gives evidence of the artist's presence, separates his work from that of those who fall under this strict definition, it lends a freshness and spontaneity to his work which was impossible for these artists.
Gifford was consciously drawn to the American landscape at a young age. Like many nineteenth-century artists, he had been preoccupied with portraiture in the early part of his career. However, "his statement about the decision [to return to landscape painting] is revealing: 'During the summer of 1846 I made several pedestrian tours among the Catskill Mtns. and the Berkshire Hills, and made a good many sketches from nature. These studies, together with the great admiration I felt for the works of Cole developed a strong interest in Landscape Art, and I opened my eyes to a keener perception and more intelligent enjoyment of Nature. Having once enjoyed the absolute freedom of the Landscape painter's life, I was unable to return to portrait painting. From this time my direction in art was determined.'" (I. Weiss, Sanford Robinson Gifford, New York, 1977, p. 26)
Gifford's choice was based on strong personal conviction. "The American artists who reached artistic maturity just following the middle of the nineteenth century were inspired by a faith in the spiritual significance of nature. Their problem was to suggest the higher reality by means of the observable one. Furthermore, art was implicit in nature. The coincidence of the three essential factors, Nature, Spirit and Art is evident in Asher B. Durand's advice to the art student of 1855 to approach nature 'with veneration--and find in the conscientious study of her beauties all the great first principles of Art.' Sanford Gifford was a prominent member of the group of artists who were originally guided by this thinking. During the course of Gifford's career the basic concepts evolved in more personal terms." (I. Weiss, Sanford Robinson Gifford, New York, 1977, p. 2)
In Gifford's composition of Manchester Beach, nature quite evidently reigns supreme. Gifford carefully orchestrated the composition to highlight the magnificent aspects of this beach, with red rocks contrasted against deep blue sea and the sparkling sand. The serenity of the beach is not interrupted by the presence of the people who enjoy its diversions. Figures such as these are tucked into the niches in many of Gifford's works. According to Ila Weiss, the subjects at far left may be the artist Jervis McEntee, with sketchbook in hand, and his wife who "seem to express the artist's romantic, nostalgic yearnings."
According to Ila Weiss, "Sanford R. Gifford made three sketching trips to the coast of Massachusetts, in September 1864, July 1865 and August 1872. On the first trip he arrived at the shore following a New England tour with his friend, the artist Jervis McEntee, that included Mt. Desert, Maine in July and the White Mountains of New Hampshire in August. He spent the first week of September in the Manchester Beach area, then moved elsewhere on the coast, returning to New York at the end of the month. Two sketchbooks were filled with pencil drawings of the New England scenery. A drawing in Sketchbook 10 of 1864 is inscribed 'Manchester Beach Sept 5/Salmon rocks.' It is the only landscape study at Manchester Beach that year, and forms the basis of the painting under consideration, 'Manchester Beach, Mass.' The drawing is a two-page panorama, the main part of the painting's rock protrusion filling the left facing page; the extension of beach, surf and horizon, wider than that painted, filling the right page. Inscriptions on the drawing attest to the artist's careful scrutiny of colors and tones: 'yel ocher,' 'red brown,' and 'lighter' on the rocks; 'wet & darker' and 'gray sand' on the sand; 'blue' and 'green' on the water; and 'haze gray' in the sky just over the distant headland. The inscriptions clearly anticipate painting the view, with the subtitle 'Salmon rocks,' the color observation that inspired the concept and provided the keynote of the painting."
A letter from Dr. Ila Weiss discussing the painting accompanies the lot.
Gifford was consciously drawn to the American landscape at a young age. Like many nineteenth-century artists, he had been preoccupied with portraiture in the early part of his career. However, "his statement about the decision [to return to landscape painting] is revealing: 'During the summer of 1846 I made several pedestrian tours among the Catskill Mtns. and the Berkshire Hills, and made a good many sketches from nature. These studies, together with the great admiration I felt for the works of Cole developed a strong interest in Landscape Art, and I opened my eyes to a keener perception and more intelligent enjoyment of Nature. Having once enjoyed the absolute freedom of the Landscape painter's life, I was unable to return to portrait painting. From this time my direction in art was determined.'" (I. Weiss, Sanford Robinson Gifford, New York, 1977, p. 26)
Gifford's choice was based on strong personal conviction. "The American artists who reached artistic maturity just following the middle of the nineteenth century were inspired by a faith in the spiritual significance of nature. Their problem was to suggest the higher reality by means of the observable one. Furthermore, art was implicit in nature. The coincidence of the three essential factors, Nature, Spirit and Art is evident in Asher B. Durand's advice to the art student of 1855 to approach nature 'with veneration--and find in the conscientious study of her beauties all the great first principles of Art.' Sanford Gifford was a prominent member of the group of artists who were originally guided by this thinking. During the course of Gifford's career the basic concepts evolved in more personal terms." (I. Weiss, Sanford Robinson Gifford, New York, 1977, p. 2)
In Gifford's composition of Manchester Beach, nature quite evidently reigns supreme. Gifford carefully orchestrated the composition to highlight the magnificent aspects of this beach, with red rocks contrasted against deep blue sea and the sparkling sand. The serenity of the beach is not interrupted by the presence of the people who enjoy its diversions. Figures such as these are tucked into the niches in many of Gifford's works. According to Ila Weiss, the subjects at far left may be the artist Jervis McEntee, with sketchbook in hand, and his wife who "seem to express the artist's romantic, nostalgic yearnings."
According to Ila Weiss, "Sanford R. Gifford made three sketching trips to the coast of Massachusetts, in September 1864, July 1865 and August 1872. On the first trip he arrived at the shore following a New England tour with his friend, the artist Jervis McEntee, that included Mt. Desert, Maine in July and the White Mountains of New Hampshire in August. He spent the first week of September in the Manchester Beach area, then moved elsewhere on the coast, returning to New York at the end of the month. Two sketchbooks were filled with pencil drawings of the New England scenery. A drawing in Sketchbook 10 of 1864 is inscribed 'Manchester Beach Sept 5/Salmon rocks.' It is the only landscape study at Manchester Beach that year, and forms the basis of the painting under consideration, 'Manchester Beach, Mass.' The drawing is a two-page panorama, the main part of the painting's rock protrusion filling the left facing page; the extension of beach, surf and horizon, wider than that painted, filling the right page. Inscriptions on the drawing attest to the artist's careful scrutiny of colors and tones: 'yel ocher,' 'red brown,' and 'lighter' on the rocks; 'wet & darker' and 'gray sand' on the sand; 'blue' and 'green' on the water; and 'haze gray' in the sky just over the distant headland. The inscriptions clearly anticipate painting the view, with the subtitle 'Salmon rocks,' the color observation that inspired the concept and provided the keynote of the painting."
A letter from Dr. Ila Weiss discussing the painting accompanies the lot.