MARY FAIRCHILD MACMONNIES LOW | BATTLESHIPS ON THE HUDSON RIVER (THE TURN OF THE TIDE)

Mr. Alfred E. Waller, 1919 (gift of the artist)

Marjorie MacMonnies Young, 1967

Thence by descent to the present owner

Mary Fairchild MacMonnies Low was a well-respected Impressionist painter of portraits and landscapes, who received major commissions and was the recipient of numerous awards throughout her career. Today, her paintings are owned and collected by museums and other institutions, such as Sheldon Swope (Terre Haute, Indiana), the National Academy (New York City), and the Musée Vernon (France).

Battleships on the Hudson River (The Turn of the Tide) is primed as a Tonalist work with a hazy atmosphere and constrained palette, exemplary of her mid-career emphasis on atmosphere and mood. Painted in 1919, the scene depicts the United States fleet on the Hudson River at the close of World War I. The even spacing of anchored battleships and the precision of their ominous forms creates an eerie juxtaposition of hard lines against the fluidity of the landscape. Low's engagement here with a vision of national defense is unusual in her oeuvre, indicating an interest in historic subjects and wartime advancements alongside the natural forms typically favored by her Impressionist counterparts.