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Lot Essay
An American Impressionist landscape, genre and figure painter, Charles Courtney Curran is perhaps best known for his plein air images of women and children in colorful summer landscapes. Children by the Seashore, painted in 1896, is a delightful example of his images of young boys and girls, enjoying the pleasures of a sunny morning at the beach.
Curran, a prolific artist who exhibited works at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1887 until 1935, and at the National Academy of Design in New York from 1883 through 1943, became a leader of the Cragsmoor Art Colony in Cragsmoor, New York.
Like many of his contemporaries, Curran often chose the most picturesque scenes to render in his work. Children by the Seashore is a classic American Impressionist interpretation of the rapidly changing world of the twentieth century, and reflects the sense of nostalgia for the innocence of a simpler way of life long since past. Curran skillfully captures the simple joys and pleasures of a childhood morning spent playing on the sand at the seashore -- the faces of the children beam with curiosity and happiness as they examine the various treasures to be found all around them.
According to Kaycee Benton, the children depicted in this work are all young relatives of the artist and his wife, Grace.
This painting will be included in Kaycee Benton's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work.
Curran, a prolific artist who exhibited works at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1887 until 1935, and at the National Academy of Design in New York from 1883 through 1943, became a leader of the Cragsmoor Art Colony in Cragsmoor, New York.
Like many of his contemporaries, Curran often chose the most picturesque scenes to render in his work. Children by the Seashore is a classic American Impressionist interpretation of the rapidly changing world of the twentieth century, and reflects the sense of nostalgia for the innocence of a simpler way of life long since past. Curran skillfully captures the simple joys and pleasures of a childhood morning spent playing on the sand at the seashore -- the faces of the children beam with curiosity and happiness as they examine the various treasures to be found all around them.
According to Kaycee Benton, the children depicted in this work are all young relatives of the artist and his wife, Grace.
This painting will be included in Kaycee Benton's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work.