Questroyal 2009

Alfred Thompson Bricher ( 1837 – 1908 ) Plate 6 Beach at Little Boar’s Head, New Hampshire Watercolor and gouache on paper 11 1 / 8 x 21 7 / 8 inches (image size) 13 1 / 2 x 24 9 / 16 inches (paper size) Signed lower left: ATBricher (artist’s monogram) provenance Mr. and Mrs. Cecil A. Comfort, Kensington, New Hampshire Sale, Sotheby’s Parke Bernet, NewYork, April 29 , 1976 , lot 49 Hirschl & Adler Galleries, NewYork, acquired at the above sale The Collection of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz Jr., acquired from the above exhibited National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, An American Perspective: Nineteenth-century Art from the Collection of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz Jr. , October 1981 –September 1982 literature JohnWilmerding, Linda Ayres, and Earl A. Powell III , An American Perspective: Nineteenth-century Art from the Collection of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz Jr. , exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1981 ), pp. 24 , 27 ; figs. 11 , 115 . We determined to hunt out the man who in our midst was capable of expressing Nature on canvas so accurately and so beautifully. We climbed up two or three pairs of stairs over the Merchants’ Bank [ 28 State Street] and there found not a cross-looking middle-aged man, but a youth, who seemed scarcely out of his teens. This was Mr. Bricher. Undated newspaper clipping 1 Call of theWild Alfred Thompson Bricher was known for his complete immersion in nature —which was integral to his creative process—as well as for his devotion to the modern method of plein air (open air) drawing and painting. Through- out his career he roamed the coasts, both at home and abroad, perfecting his depictions of water and coastline and seeking out new views to distill on paper and canvas. After 1868 , he focused almost exclusively on seascapes, a subject at which he excelled. 3 His ability to capture the effects of light and the breaking of waves was particularly praised by critics and colleagues. His fellow painter and friendWilliam S. Barrett, in an observation in his sketch- book, recounted venturing out with Bricher to sketch the sea: “At 9 a.m., Aug. 20, 1897 , A. Bricher and I spent the day out on the rough sea. He is very much like I am—a lover of true nature—not a studio painter like Homer. The sea shows her green gray anger today. It’s hard to sketch well but we enjoyed being part of this angry turmoil.” 4 Bricher sought direct commu- nion with the subjects he painted, making him one of the premier chroni- clers of East Coast landscapes. — imh Bricher’s works are found in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid. 1 Undated newspaper clipping, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Quoted in Jeffrey Brown, Alfred Thompson Bricher , 1837 – 1908 , exh. cat. (Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1973 ), p. 14 . 2 Brown, p. 12 . 3 JohnWilmerding, Linda Ayres, and Earl A. Powell III, An American Perspective: Nineteenth- century Art from the Collection of Jo Ann and Julian Ganz Jr. , exh. cat. (Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1981 ), p. 24 . 4 William S. Barrett sketchbook. Quoted in Brown, p. 12 . His best paintings sing with surreal clarity. They can radiate a reflected sun with pupil-shrinking brilliance or stifle all emotion in mist. . . . He knew the coast intimately in all its moods. jeffrey brown , art historian, 1973 2