Edward H. Potthast (1857-1927). Self-portrait. (ca. 1890) Oil on canvas.
Dear George,
For anybody in our area who
wants their spirits brightened up, I’d recommend a trip to the Cincinnati Art
Museum to see the current exhibition by Edward Henry Potthast. I’d been familiar with Potthast for
some time because several of his paintings are on permanent exhibition in the
museum’s Cincinnati wing, but this show was much more full-scale. Potthast is an American Impressionist,
best known for his beach scenes of children, families, and surf on the Long
Island shore. Our art museum owns
35 of his works, and the curator borrowed extensively from many other sources
as well. The show’s ninety plus
works include oils, watercolors, prints, and drawings. While his famous beach paintings are at
the center, the show covers Potthast’s full range of subjects, e.g., figure
studies, European peasants, landscapes, parks, fishermen.
Dutch interior.
(1894) Oil on canvas.
Potthast was born on June 10,
1857, to German immigrant parents in a family of artisans in Cincinnati. As a 12-year-old he became a charter
student at the new McMicken School of Design where he studied for the next
decade. He then studied at
the Cincinnati Art Academy from 1879 to 1881 with Thomas Satterwhite Noble, a
prominent portrait and figure painter.
After a period at the Royal Academy in Munich, he returned to Cincinnati
in 1885 to continue his work with Noble.
He then moved to Paris in 1886, where the influence of landscape
painters at the Grèz colony led to his complete conversion to Impressionism,
reflected in his free brushstrokes, vivid colors, and use of outdoor light.
Wood interior.
(1895) Oil on canvas.
Potthast returned to New York
City in 1896. He worked as a
magazine illustrator after his arrival in New York and exhibited regularly in
major venues in the city. He
eventually established a studio in the Gainsborough Building at 220 Central
Park South in Manhattan, painting images of Central Park, New England
landscapes, and beach scenes on Long Island. Beach scenes were his first love, and he spent summers at
art colonies in Massachusetts and Maine as well as regularly visiting Coney
Island and Far Rockaway. A very
private person, Potthast never married.
He died alone in his studio on March 9, 1927. His works are included in
the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, the Chicago Art Institute, the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the
Cincinnati Art Museum, the New York Historical Society, the Brooklyn Museum,
the Museum of the National Academy of Design, and many other institutions
across the country. Below are some
of my favorite beach paintings from the show, all from our art museum’s
collection. The images are so
alive you can virtually see the bathers in motion.
Love,
Dave
Beach scene with lavender sky. (ca. 1920) Oil on board.
Surf bathing.
(ca. 1924) Oil on
board.
Brother and sister. (ca. 1915) Oil
on canvas.
Long Beach.
(ca. 1922) Oil on
canvas.
Playmates.
(ca. 1918) Oil on canvas.
A Sailing Party.
(ca. 1924) Oil on canvas
Sources: www.artdaily.com,
(“’Eternal Summer: The Art of Edward Henry Potthast’ opens at the Cincinnati
Art Museum,” June 13, 2013); www.cincinnati.com
(“Potthast popular again,” June 3, 2013); www.edwardhenrypotthast.org
(“Edward Henry Potthast: The Complete Works”); www.hollistaggart.com (“Edward Henry
Potthast: Biograph”); www.wikipedia.org
(“Edward Henry Potthast”)
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