John Sloan is associated with the Ashcan School, a group of realist painters who made daily life in New York City a frequent subject of their work. Sloan arrived in New York in 1904, taking up residence in Greenwich Village, where he painted many of his best-known works. Sloan’s work was not confined to the city, however. He was also a gifted landscape painter, evident in this view of the coast of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Sloan first visited the scenic fishing village in 1914, returning for the next four summers. In the city, Sloan worked from memory in his studio, but in Gloucester he painted in the open air. Sloan later recalled, “My first summer in Gloucester afforded the first real opportunity for continuous work in landscape and I really made the most of it. Working from nature gives, I believe, the best means of advance in color and design.”
- Titles Seacoast, Gloucester (Proper)
- Artist John Sloan, American, 1871 - 1951
- Medium oil on canvas
- Dimensions 20 x 23 3/4 in. (50.8 x 60.3 cm) frame: 27 5/16 × 31 1/4 × 2 1/4 in. (69.4 × 79.4 × 5.7 cm)
- Credit Line Gift of Kay Blount Miles, given in celebration of the life of her father, Wynton M. Blount, on his 75th birthday, 1996.2, image © 2018 Delaware Art Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Work Type painting
- Classification Paintings
- On View
- Signature Recto, lower left: John Sloan 1915
- Inscription Verso, top stretcher bar, over lining wrapped over bar, center right, typed label: JOHN SLOAN (1871-1951) / SEACOAST, GLOUCESTER, 1915 / Oil on canvas; 20 x 24 inches / Signed lower left / 0047821 / Kennedy / Galleries Inc. / 730 Fifth Avenue / New York, NY 10019-4105 Verso, top stretcher bar, over lining wrapping bar, upper right, black marker: #47821 Verso, top stretcher bar, center left, extremely ripped label: [illegible] 20 x 24 [illegible] Verso, top stretcher bar, inside bar, right, graphite: 24 Verso, left stretcher bar, inside bar, bottom center, graphite: 20 Verso, right stretcher bar, inside bar, center, graphite: 20 Verso, bottom stretcher bar, inside bar, center left, graphite: 24 Verso, vertical strainer, top center, graphite: D[rest of word illegible] 1915 / # 134 [upside down] Verso, vertical strainer, center, typed label: MUSEUM NO. .80022 / Rainford / 2076 / WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART / #306 [added in black pen] / TEN WEST EIGHTH STREET NEW YORK / ARTIST Sloan, John SIZE 20”X24” / TITLE Sea Coast, Gloucester, Mass. Backing board, verso, encapsulated label, typed: Pride in Place / Landscapes by The Eight in Southern Collections / Organized by the Albany Museum of Art / Albany Museum of Art, Albany, GA Jan. 14-March 12, 2000 / Montgomery Museum of Art, Montgomery, AL April 1 to May 13, 2000 / Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, MS June 15 to Aug. 6, 2000 / Cheekwood Museum, in Nashville, TN Aug. 31 to Oct. 15, 2000 / John Sloan / Seacoast, Gloucester / oil on canvas / 22” x 23 ¾” / Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, Alabama; Gift of Kay Blount Miles, given in celebration of the life of her father, Wynton M. Blount, on his 75th birthday
- Provenance Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney by 1921 [see note 1]; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1931, deaccessioned, 1952 [see note 2]; returned to Helen Farr Sloan (1911-2005), John Sloan Trust [see note 3]. With dealer Kennedy Galleries, New York [see note 4]; purchased by Kay Blount Miles, 1996; gift to the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, 1996
1. Heather Campbell Coyle, An American Journey: The Art of John Sloan (Wilmington: Delaware Art Museum, 2017), p. 112n3. John Sloan had his first solo exhibition January 26 - February 6, 1916 at Mrs. Whitney’s Studio; 1996.2 is not listed in the catalogue for this exhibition. See object file.
2. Whitney Museum of American Art: Catalogue of the Collection (New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1931), p. 35 as “Sea Coast, Gloucester, Mass.”
3. According to Whitney Museum of Art cataloguing card and email correspondence from December 2019 between Virginia Badgett and Heather Campbell Coyle, Chief Curator, Delaware Museum of Art. See object file.
4. According to undated Kennedy Galleries fact sheet. See object file.
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