Beach Scene

By the turn of the century, prosperity had enabled Americans to enjoy increased leisure time and extended vacations, even for the middle class. In the early decades of the twentieth century, Edward Henry Potthast embraced American leisure time as a central subject. Potthast's home on West 59th Street in Manhattan allowed him to easily travel to the city's crowded resorts of Brighton Beach and Coney Island. He completed numerous seaside watercolors of these beaches, before eventually moving on to oil, painting his exquisite small panels of crowds at the beach. The vivid color and mastery of composition in his paintings speak to his success as a painter. By choosing a vibrant palette in the present work, Potthast imbues this work with a lively and appealing character.