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Lot Essay
Sanford Gifford's masterfully refined renditions of the nineteenth-century American landscape are exceptionally articulate visions of nature. In the present work, the artist depicts evening on the Hudson River with his renowned attention to detail, deft use of atmospheric perspective and accomplished use of light to center the composition and convey emotion. Works such as Sunset over New York Bay demonstrate why Gifford's contemporary Henry T. Tuckerman called the artist "a noble interpreter of American scenery," and enthused that "his best pictures can be not merely seen but contemplated with entire satisfaction...they do not dazzle, they win." (Book of the Artists, New York, 1967, pp. 524-25)
According to Dr. Ila Weiss, the present work is a half-size study for an exhibition piece presented at the National Academy in 1878 and currently in the collection of the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York. The larger version is listed as #698 in the Gifford Memorial Catalogue (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1881) and, an undated, smaller sketch of the composition is also known.
"The development of the subject, clearly seen in the three known examples of Sunset Over New York Bay, is characteristic of Gifford," Dr. Weiss explains. "The smallest, which would have been closest to the original observation and compositional idea recorded in lost pencil sketches, sets the horizon near the center of the format, and contains numerous and varied clusters of sails, as well as a steamer, as if to suggest their movement on the water. Most likely the original drawings were done on a boat in the bay."
Compared to the earlier sketch, the present work "tightens the compositional structure while exaggerating expressive elements. It lowers the horizon and distances the shipping from the observer, thus enlarging the space and intensifying its impact. The sailing vessels are reduced in number and more carefully arranged as vertical shapes against the strong horizon, effecting classical order and a mood of serenity. More distant sails and masts are reduced and half lost in the atmosphere to emphasize the simple opposition of the right far-foreground sailing ships and left middle-distant shipping. A spot of raking light on the hull of the nearer vessel, doubled in reflection, that was captured in the smaller sketch is further emphasized in the more developed image. Between these two compositional weights, a near-center, bold, dramatically orange-lighted cloud mass is exaggerated to further stabilize the iconic centered composition."
The exaggerated twilight sky in Sunset Over New York Bay is a reflection of Gifford's fascination with J.M.W. Turner's dramatic depictions of sunset, but tempered by his own attention to accuracy and tendency toward tranquility. Dr. Weiss elaborates, "He acclaimed Turner's 'splendid vision of a painter' and 'varied brilliancy of color' that he had 'never seen equaled.' But he questioned the accuracy of Turner's observation of nature, of 'color which I do not think possible when the sun is full half an hour above the horizon.' In many of his own paintings, including those of Sunset Over New York Bay, he corrected the position of the sun--the time of day--to justify a similar color extravagance. He also eschewed Turner's spatial turmoil and rough execution, instead establishing an affecting mood of quietude and poetic subtlety--intensifying to breathless exaltation in examples such as this--that perfectly expressed his unique sensibility." (unpublished letter dated 16 June 2013)
A letter from the recognized expert, Dr. Ila Weiss, accompanies this lot. We wish to thank her for her assistance with cataloguing.
According to Dr. Ila Weiss, the present work is a half-size study for an exhibition piece presented at the National Academy in 1878 and currently in the collection of the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York. The larger version is listed as #698 in the Gifford Memorial Catalogue (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1881) and, an undated, smaller sketch of the composition is also known.
"The development of the subject, clearly seen in the three known examples of Sunset Over New York Bay, is characteristic of Gifford," Dr. Weiss explains. "The smallest, which would have been closest to the original observation and compositional idea recorded in lost pencil sketches, sets the horizon near the center of the format, and contains numerous and varied clusters of sails, as well as a steamer, as if to suggest their movement on the water. Most likely the original drawings were done on a boat in the bay."
Compared to the earlier sketch, the present work "tightens the compositional structure while exaggerating expressive elements. It lowers the horizon and distances the shipping from the observer, thus enlarging the space and intensifying its impact. The sailing vessels are reduced in number and more carefully arranged as vertical shapes against the strong horizon, effecting classical order and a mood of serenity. More distant sails and masts are reduced and half lost in the atmosphere to emphasize the simple opposition of the right far-foreground sailing ships and left middle-distant shipping. A spot of raking light on the hull of the nearer vessel, doubled in reflection, that was captured in the smaller sketch is further emphasized in the more developed image. Between these two compositional weights, a near-center, bold, dramatically orange-lighted cloud mass is exaggerated to further stabilize the iconic centered composition."
The exaggerated twilight sky in Sunset Over New York Bay is a reflection of Gifford's fascination with J.M.W. Turner's dramatic depictions of sunset, but tempered by his own attention to accuracy and tendency toward tranquility. Dr. Weiss elaborates, "He acclaimed Turner's 'splendid vision of a painter' and 'varied brilliancy of color' that he had 'never seen equaled.' But he questioned the accuracy of Turner's observation of nature, of 'color which I do not think possible when the sun is full half an hour above the horizon.' In many of his own paintings, including those of Sunset Over New York Bay, he corrected the position of the sun--the time of day--to justify a similar color extravagance. He also eschewed Turner's spatial turmoil and rough execution, instead establishing an affecting mood of quietude and poetic subtlety--intensifying to breathless exaltation in examples such as this--that perfectly expressed his unique sensibility." (unpublished letter dated 16 June 2013)
A letter from the recognized expert, Dr. Ila Weiss, accompanies this lot. We wish to thank her for her assistance with cataloguing.