- 43
Martin Johnson Heade 1819 - 1904
Estimate
500,000 - 700,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- Martin Johnson Heade
- Sunset over Newburyport Meadows
- signed M.J. Heade and dated 1904 (lower left)
- oil on canvas
- 13 by 26 inches
- (33 by 66 cm)
Provenance
Private Collection, New York, circa 1950
Private Collection, Greenwich, Connecticut (by descent; sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 23, 2007, lot 147, illustrated)
Acquired by the present owner at the above sale (through Aaron Payne Fine Art)
Private Collection, Greenwich, Connecticut (by descent; sold: Sotheby's, New York, May 23, 2007, lot 147, illustrated)
Acquired by the present owner at the above sale (through Aaron Payne Fine Art)
Catalogue Note
The scenic salt marshes along the eastern seaboard were among Martin Johnson Heade’s favorite and most highly acclaimed subjects, accounting for a significant portion of his oeuvre. He began to paint the flatlands of Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut in 1859 as well as New Jersey in the following decade. Working in the luminist tradition, Heade painted the landscape at dawn and dusk, in bright sunlight and under ominous storm clouds, recording the fluctuations of light and atmosphere prevalent along the New England shore.
In Sunset over Newburyport Meadows, Heade places distinct emphasis on the flatness of the marsh, drawing the viewer into the receding space with a serpentine ribbon of water that rhythmically wends its way into the distance. The subliminal calmness of Heade’s landscapes is reinforced by his use of light in conjunction with a strict geometric foundation that underlies his ordering of the elements of water, land and sky. As Theodore E. Stebbins writes, "Why paint the marsh? First, Heade demanded of himself originality, and, though the marsh was familiar and ubiquitous, it was a new subject for the American painter. Equally important, the marsh was simply a place Heade loved: on the one hand it represented untouched nature—an ideal place for hunting and fishing—and on the other it was a natural farmland, where hay was harvested and stacked. If Heade was an intermediary figure between the Hudson River School and the next generation, then too the marsh might be seen as an intermediate landscape that lies somewhere between wilderness and the pastoral” (Martin Johnson Heade, Boston, Massachusetts, 1999, p. 29).
In Sunset over Newburyport Meadows, Heade places distinct emphasis on the flatness of the marsh, drawing the viewer into the receding space with a serpentine ribbon of water that rhythmically wends its way into the distance. The subliminal calmness of Heade’s landscapes is reinforced by his use of light in conjunction with a strict geometric foundation that underlies his ordering of the elements of water, land and sky. As Theodore E. Stebbins writes, "Why paint the marsh? First, Heade demanded of himself originality, and, though the marsh was familiar and ubiquitous, it was a new subject for the American painter. Equally important, the marsh was simply a place Heade loved: on the one hand it represented untouched nature—an ideal place for hunting and fishing—and on the other it was a natural farmland, where hay was harvested and stacked. If Heade was an intermediary figure between the Hudson River School and the next generation, then too the marsh might be seen as an intermediate landscape that lies somewhere between wilderness and the pastoral” (Martin Johnson Heade, Boston, Massachusetts, 1999, p. 29).