Montague Dawson R.S.M.A., F.R.S.A.

Frost & Reed, Ltd., London
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, April 12, 1996, lot 196A, illustrated
Acquired at the above sale by Peter V. Guarisco

Painted circa 1945.  While the present work may reveal Dawson's working method--the painting of choppy waves before the addition of the portrait of a vessel or sea battle (for which he is so well known), it is also a very interesting image in its own right.  The endless unbounded sea, without horizon, is a subject of the literature of the ages, from Victor Hugo to Herman Melville.  The artist brilliantly captures that sense of grandeur and Nature's enormous power in The Sea Alone.