Provincetown Having Its Morning Fog

Grace V. Kelly (1905-1990) was an American watercolorist associated with the Provincetown art colony, known for her atmospheric watercolors of the Massachusetts coast. Provincetown Having Its Morning Fog from 1927-28 depicts the fishing town of Provincetown shrouded in morning fog with the atmospheric technique and tonal subtlety that distinguish Kelly's best work. The 1927-28 date places this in the early years of the Provincetown art colony, when Kelly was establishing the atmospheric watercolor landscape that would make her one of the colony's most respected artists.

Kelly's Provincetown watercolors are important in the history of American watercolor painting because they demonstrate the atmospheric technique and tonal subtlety that the Provincetown art colony brought to the Massachusetts coast. Provincetown Having Its Morning Fog shows Kelly using the watercolor medium to capture the specific atmospheric effects of the New England coast—the fog, the damp air, the diffused light—with a subtlety that distinguishes her work from the more colorful watercolors of other American watercolor societies.

Provincetown Having Its Morning Fog is Kelly's atmospheric watercolor at its most subtle: the fishing town shrouded in morning fog rendered with the tonal subtlety and atmospheric technique that distinguish the Provincetown art colony's approach to the Massachusetts coast. The 1927-28 watercolor captures the diffused light of the New England coast.