Broken Window

Stephen Scott Young first traveled to the Bahamas in 1981 when he visited his wife's family in Nassau. In the years that followed, Scott made many successive trips to the Bahamas and spent time on the various islands. In 1994, Scott built his first Bahamian studio, followed by a second studio constructed from 2002 to 2005. These studios are located on the northern end of Eleuthera Island on Whale Point peninsula. Scott dubbed this latter studio "Leviathan Light" and it was built to resemble the structure of a lighthouse. From this high vantage point, Scott is able to glimpse the remains of a natural stone arch known as "Glass Window," which was nearly completely destroyed by a hurricane several years ago. This natural arch has subsequently been replaced by a concrete structure called the Glass Window Bridge.

The present work, Broken Window, was painted at Glass Window. According to William H. Gerdts, "Scott had Winslow Homer's 1885 watercolor [(Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York)] depicting the arch in mind when he painted this work, and also the oil paintings of the rocky coast of Appledore Island, Maine, by another American artist, Childe Hassam. He chose a tall, thin young girl from Bogue named Nicki to pose for him, and got her to dress all in white so as to blend in against the rugged white rocks. The only bit of bright color is a view of blue ocean at the lower left. Scott has also done paintings of other models at Glass Window, and hopes to do more there." (W.H. Gerdts, Once Upon an Island: Stephen Scott Young in the Bahamas, exhibition catalogue, New York, 2012, p. 185)