Girls on the Beach

Girls on the Beach is a quintessential example of Edward Potthast's lively Impressionist style and ability to capture the blissful, carefree spirit of seaside holidays and summer afternoons. J.W. Young, a long-time friend and Chicago art dealer, commented in 1920, "Potthast has found his greatest pleasure painting the happy groups which crowd the beaches near New York...Potthast does not paint individuals on the sands. He interprets the joy of folks on a care-free day. Whenever any artist does some one thing better than it has been done before, distinction is sure to come to him sooner or later. But when he does something that strikes the finest chord in human nature better than anyone else has done it, fame will mark that artist as one of her own." (as quoted in Edward Henry Potthast: An American Painter, New York, 1998, p. 15)

The present work demonstrates Potthast's mastery of light, color and composition. The scene is rendered with a high-keyed palette and bathed in warm summer light that dapples the sand and water. Two girls stand on the breezy beach gazing intently beyond the canvas with youthful enthusiasm. Their white dresses flutter in the wind as roiling ocean nips at their feet. "His sophistication as an artist is in his strong ability to arrange rich jewel-like color in a carefully balanced, yet distinctly rhythmic manner that provided his paintings with cadence. He understood light, tone, form, gesture and motion." (Edward Henry Potthast: An American Painter, p. 11) In true Impressionistic style, Potthast has captured in Girls on the Beach the essence of a fleeting moment in vibrant color and adroit, bravura brushwork.