Lot Essay
A native of Marblehead, Massachusetts, and sometime mariner, carpenter, restaurateur, journalist and local historian, J.O.J. Frost did not begin his painting career until 1920 following the death of his wife, Anne Lillibridge, in 1919. The subjects of Frost's works tended to be based either on his own experiences or events that transpired in Marblehead, whether merely local happenings, or occurances whose significance held deeper import, such as the massing and departure of local volunteers for service in the Union Army.
"1869-May-3rd: Western Edge of the Grand Banks" reveals Frost's personal history in Marblehead's maritime industry along the Grand Banks. In 1868, at the age of 16, Frost first sailed aboard the fishing schooner Josephine; the following year, he sailed on the crew of the Oceana on its maiden voyage. On 1 May 1869, the Oceana weathered a storm described as, "... a dreadful snowstorm... you can't stand aft and see the bow...If there has been ships or icebergs we couldn't have seen them".
Following Frost's death in 1928, the majority of his works were either donated to the Marblehead Historical Society or remained in the artist's family. A well-received exhibition by the Marblehead Arts Association in 1940 brought Frost's works to public attention, and also resulted in their permanent public display at the Marblehead Historical Society. In addition, a third exhibition of Frost's work was also organized in 1948 at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, in which the painting illustrated here was exhibited. Subsequent interest in Frost's work included two exhibitions in the spring and summer of 1952 at Child's Gallery in Boston, and Knoedler's Gallery in New York. While several of Frost's paintings were cut to increase the number of his works, the painting illustrated here is one of his few Marblehead scenes that was not part of a larger work and therefore remained fully intact.
A related painting of a Ship in Snowstorm is illustrated in Bishop, Folk Painters of America (New York, 1979), p. 53, fig. 68.
"1869-May-3rd: Western Edge of the Grand Banks" reveals Frost's personal history in Marblehead's maritime industry along the Grand Banks. In 1868, at the age of 16, Frost first sailed aboard the fishing schooner Josephine; the following year, he sailed on the crew of the Oceana on its maiden voyage. On 1 May 1869, the Oceana weathered a storm described as, "... a dreadful snowstorm... you can't stand aft and see the bow...If there has been ships or icebergs we couldn't have seen them".
Following Frost's death in 1928, the majority of his works were either donated to the Marblehead Historical Society or remained in the artist's family. A well-received exhibition by the Marblehead Arts Association in 1940 brought Frost's works to public attention, and also resulted in their permanent public display at the Marblehead Historical Society. In addition, a third exhibition of Frost's work was also organized in 1948 at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, in which the painting illustrated here was exhibited. Subsequent interest in Frost's work included two exhibitions in the spring and summer of 1952 at Child's Gallery in Boston, and Knoedler's Gallery in New York. While several of Frost's paintings were cut to increase the number of his works, the painting illustrated here is one of his few Marblehead scenes that was not part of a larger work and therefore remained fully intact.
A related painting of a Ship in Snowstorm is illustrated in Bishop, Folk Painters of America (New York, 1979), p. 53, fig. 68.