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Lot Essay
William Glackens painted his most successful Impressionist works from 1911 through 1916 while spending his summers on the south shore of Long Island at Bellport. There, in the company of his family and friends, he developed his own Impressionist painting style, inspired by his travels to Paris in 1912 to purchase paintings for the legendary collector and museum founder Albert C. Barnes. Rendered with dazzling jewel tones, Yellow Bath House and Sailboat, Bellport, Long Island demonstrates Glackens’ modernist take on Impressionism and his ability to translate the optimistic and carefree qualities of summertime onto canvas.
Regarding Glackens Bellport paintings, R.J. Wattenmaker has written, "The beach scenes painted by William Glackens during the six summers the artist and his family spent at the seashore in and around Bellport, Long Island, constitute a single American contribution to the international tradition of Impressionism. From 1911 through 1916 Glackens painted an extended series of motifs of figures at the beach, bathers along the shore and in the water, enjoying carefree recreation under the sunlit skies of Great South Bay…In his Bellport beach scenes Glackens created a body of work that thoughtful critics and collectors have acknowledged to be among his most distinctive achievements." ("William Glackens's Beach Scenes at Bellport," Smithsonian Studies in American Art, vol. 2, no. 2, Spring 1988, p. 75) The bath house visible at the left of the composition was a favorite motif for Glackens. He employed the structure in other important Bellport paintings, such as Bathers at Bellport (The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.) and Bath Houses (circa 1915, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware).
Glackens was attracted to Bellport not only because of the subject matter it offered, but also because of the casual lifestyle and summertime activities that he could pursue there. At the time he visited the area, the town remained largely undeveloped and unspoiled, devoid of large estates and development. The shoreline interlaced with jetties, rafts and old gazebos gave the area a more relaxed atmosphere in comparison to the more refined Shinnecock seascapes of artists such as William Merritt Chase. In Yellow Bath House and Sailboat, Bellport, Long Island, Glackens mimics this casual atmosphere through spontaneous, liberal strokes of paint and energetically rendered figures. Such a style is emblematic of the French master Pierre-August Renoir, whom Glackens much admired and Albert Barnes avidly collected.
In addition to their modern critical reception, Glackens’ Bellport paintings were also well received during his lifetime. As the artist Albert Gallatin noted, “…the beach scenes, completely enveloped in sparkling and joyous sunshine, in which the figures are placed in the landscape in a most masterly manner…are paintings which disclose his genius at its best." ("William Glackens," Magazine of Art, vol. 2, May 1916, p. 263)
The previous owners of the present work, Rita and Daniel Fraad, were New York based American Art collectors who amassed one of most important American art collections of their generation. The 2004 auction of their collection realized just over $65 million, which was the largest ever single-owner auction of American art at the time.
Regarding Glackens Bellport paintings, R.J. Wattenmaker has written, "The beach scenes painted by William Glackens during the six summers the artist and his family spent at the seashore in and around Bellport, Long Island, constitute a single American contribution to the international tradition of Impressionism. From 1911 through 1916 Glackens painted an extended series of motifs of figures at the beach, bathers along the shore and in the water, enjoying carefree recreation under the sunlit skies of Great South Bay…In his Bellport beach scenes Glackens created a body of work that thoughtful critics and collectors have acknowledged to be among his most distinctive achievements." ("William Glackens's Beach Scenes at Bellport," Smithsonian Studies in American Art, vol. 2, no. 2, Spring 1988, p. 75) The bath house visible at the left of the composition was a favorite motif for Glackens. He employed the structure in other important Bellport paintings, such as Bathers at Bellport (The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.) and Bath Houses (circa 1915, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware).
Glackens was attracted to Bellport not only because of the subject matter it offered, but also because of the casual lifestyle and summertime activities that he could pursue there. At the time he visited the area, the town remained largely undeveloped and unspoiled, devoid of large estates and development. The shoreline interlaced with jetties, rafts and old gazebos gave the area a more relaxed atmosphere in comparison to the more refined Shinnecock seascapes of artists such as William Merritt Chase. In Yellow Bath House and Sailboat, Bellport, Long Island, Glackens mimics this casual atmosphere through spontaneous, liberal strokes of paint and energetically rendered figures. Such a style is emblematic of the French master Pierre-August Renoir, whom Glackens much admired and Albert Barnes avidly collected.
In addition to their modern critical reception, Glackens’ Bellport paintings were also well received during his lifetime. As the artist Albert Gallatin noted, “…the beach scenes, completely enveloped in sparkling and joyous sunshine, in which the figures are placed in the landscape in a most masterly manner…are paintings which disclose his genius at its best." ("William Glackens," Magazine of Art, vol. 2, May 1916, p. 263)
The previous owners of the present work, Rita and Daniel Fraad, were New York based American Art collectors who amassed one of most important American art collections of their generation. The 2004 auction of their collection realized just over $65 million, which was the largest ever single-owner auction of American art at the time.