On display: A sea of art captures diversity of ocean experiences
"In American Waters," at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, attracts visitors on June 3, 2021. The exhibition features historical and modern works, including (at right) "Precious jewels by the sea," by Amy Sherald, who also painted former first lady Michelle Obama's portrait.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Salem, Mass.
As locked-down Americans emerge from pandemic weariness and dream of summer beach excursions, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, is embracing the ocean as a metaphor for the American experience.聽聽
A new exhibition, 鈥淚n American Waters: The Sea in American Painting,鈥� is more expansive and diverse than just a feast for the eyes 鈥� and the featured artists are not just the names one might associate with maritime art.
While some billowing sails and wooden hulls are present here, the curators set out to demonstrate that a nautical collection could feature more than just ship portraits. The variety of works included is meant to generate conversation and perhaps shake things up a bit.聽
Why We Wrote This
For many, the beach conjures images of summer frivolity. But ocean stories, like those told via a new art exhibition, can reveal deeper truths about the American experience.
鈥淭he interpretation of the sea in American art is much broader than people have ever recognized,鈥� says聽Daniel Finamore, associate director of exhibitions and curator of maritime art and history at the Peabody Essex Museum (PEM). 鈥淚t鈥檚 my hope that 鈥業n American Waters鈥� will explode the confines of the genre so far.鈥�
Different visions of the sea
Assisting Mr. Finamore and the exhibition鈥檚 team of curators in that goal are artists who consider the theme from different angles.聽Currents of sensitivity, inclusivity, and originality run throughout the exhibition 鈥� fed by works such as Georgia O鈥橩eeffe鈥檚 modern and mystical 鈥淲ave, Night鈥� (1928) and a contemporary rendering of teenagers at the beach, 鈥淧recious jewels by the sea鈥� (2019), by Amy Sherald, who painted former first lady Michelle Obama鈥檚 portrait. The exhibition also聽navigates directly into such atypical areas as the sea鈥檚 transformative significance for immigrants and enslaved people.
One of the show鈥檚 early visitors was pleasantly surprised by its depth and breadth. 鈥淚 was blown away by the inclusion of female, Black, and Indigenous artists,鈥� says Sharon Reidbord of Danvers, Massachusetts, on opening day in late May. 鈥淭he slave-trade piece was also interesting, as was the structure of the show.鈥澛�
The diversity of artists and styles is intentional, meant to prompt contemporary conversation, says PEM associate curator聽Sarah Chasse. Among the 90 works on display are those by聽Norman Rockwell, Hale Woodruff, Paul Cadmus, Jacob Lawrence, Valerie Hegarty, and Stuart Davis.
Also included is 鈥淣ew Hampshire Coast,鈥� by聽Kay聽WalkingStick, one of only a few Native American female artists focused on marine paintings. A聽member of the Cherokee Nation, Ms. WalkingStick says she feels 鈥渄eeply moved to be part of such an important show that combines American artists from two-and-a-half centuries.鈥澛燨n opening day, she聽praised聽the curators for the care they took in presenting and labeling her work, which included listing the native name of the coastal location she painted, 鈥淧izagategok,鈥� which means 鈥渂lack river.鈥澛�
鈥淧art and parcel of our history鈥�
In some ways, an exhibition on this topic benefits from the way it already permeates national thinking.
鈥淭he sea plays a fundamental role in the American imagination,鈥� Thomas Denenberg,聽director of the聽Shelburne Museum in Vermont, writes in an email. 鈥淚t is part and parcel of our history, but, more importantly, the ocean provides one of the organizing myths of our nation. Maritime art, so often taken at face value, is as complicated as any genre with heroic imagery obscuring inconvenient truths.鈥澛�
The sea and its motifs feature in much of American history, from the search for the New World onward. Settlers 鈥渕oved westward, 鈥榮ailing鈥� in prairie schooners across the Plains, from sea to shining sea, to gold in California,鈥� writes John Wilmerding,聽Sarofim Professor of American Art, emeritus, at Princeton University, in an email. 鈥淚n modern times, we maintained the nautical terminology when we sent astronauts to land on the seas of the moon. We have always identified the idea of ocean and horizon with America鈥檚 frontiers and destiny.鈥�
Mr. Finamore says PEM and co-organizer聽of the exhibition, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, wanted to make the show about the sea on a visceral level. Viewers travel through six sections, starting with the lure of 鈥淗orizons,鈥� then on to 鈥淛ust Off Shore,鈥� 鈥淎 True Likeness,鈥� and 鈥淰oyages,鈥� before anchoring 鈥淚n Port,鈥� and ending with 鈥淏eachcombing.鈥澛�
As they experience this metaphorical voyage out to sea and back, visitors are challenged to think about the cultural and historical significance of the American waters and how they have resonated for various peoples 鈥� far beyond the yachting set 鈥� during the past 250 years and more.
Polish painter Theresa Bernstein鈥檚 1923 work, 鈥淭he Immigrants,鈥� for example, captures the experience of generations of people who crowded ship decks as they crossed the ocean to begin life anew.
鈥淭he immigrant story is often overlooked in American art,鈥� says Mr. Finamore, 鈥測et it is part of the history of so many Americans and a critical subject today.鈥�
The words of the 1883 sonnet by Emma Lazarus, 鈥淭he New Colossus鈥� 鈥� famous for its association with the Statue of Liberty 鈥� float nearby on a gallery wall:
鈥淕ive me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, /聽The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. /聽Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, /聽I lift my lamp beside the golden door!鈥�
The 鈥淰oyages鈥� section includes a handful of works relating to 鈥淭he Transatlantic Slave Trade and its Repercussions,鈥� which, it is pointed out, is another story rarely portrayed in paintings.
One of these works, 鈥淪lave-Yacht聽Wanderer,鈥� from the late 1880s,聽is the only known period oil painting聽of an American ship engaged in transporting enslaved people. Another speaks to the abolition movement, and three other works painted by Hale Woodruff in 1941 commemorate events surrounding an uprising on the Spanish slave ship Amistad, which, as explained in the adjacent label, 鈥渟how how a momentary act of rebellion could instill a disenfranchised people with the agency to triumph over oppression.鈥澛�
A wall quote by abolitionist Frederick Douglass offers more connection between the maritime theme and history.
鈥淭hose beautiful vessels, robed in purest white, so delightful to the eye of the freemen, were to me so many shrouded ghosts, to terrify and torment me with thoughts of my wretched condition. 鈥� You are loosed from your moorings, and are free; I am fast in my chains, and am a slave!鈥�
鈥淚n American Waters鈥� returns to land 鈥� and a lighter note 鈥� in the exhibition鈥檚 final gallery. 鈥淏eachcombing鈥� brings visitors back to the sandy shore, a place of endless appeal to American painters.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚聽not just a 19th-century American realism kind of show,鈥� says Mr. Finamore. 鈥淲e have some of the best American seascapes from that period, but we look at all the other material surrounding it to talk about the bigger conversation.鈥�
鈥�In American Waters鈥澛�is at the Peabody Essex Museum until Oct. 3. It then travels to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, where it is on view from Nov. 6 until Jan. 31, 2022.聽