Provenance
(Levantine Gallery, Bordeaux); (Claude Marumo, Director, Galerie Marumo, Paris); Alfred T. Morris, Jr., Seekonk, Massachusetts; Benjamin Rifkin, Binghampton, New York (Mr. Robert Weimann, Jr. was the agent for the sale from Mr. Morris to Mr. Rifkin); Mr. Alexander Cokas, New Hope, Pennsylvania (uncertain if he was the agent for Mr. Rifkin, or if he owned the work himself); (Taggart, Jorgensen, & Putman, Washington, D.C., October, 1983)
Accession Number
1984.13
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
Unframed: 60.3 x 92.2 cm (23 3/4 x 36 5/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Tags
Painting Impressionist & Modern (1851–1900) Oil Painting Canvas American
Background & Context
Background Story
William L. Picknell (1853-1897) was an American painter known for the luminous, precisely observed landscape paintings of Brittany that make him one of the most accomplished American painters working in France in the late 19th century. Pointe de Cabellou, Brittany from 1881 depicts the Brittany coast in the luminous, precisely observed manner that distinguishes Picknell's best work from the more conventional painting of his contemporaries. Picknell studied with Jean-Leon Gerome in Paris and then moved to Pont-Aven in Brittany, where he produced the luminous, precisely observed landscape paintings that are his most accomplished works, and the 1881 date places this in his Pont-Aven period.
Cultural Impact
Pointe de Cabellou, Brittany is important in the history of American painting because it demonstrates the luminous, precisely observed manner that Picknell brought to Brittany landscape as one of the most accomplished American painters working in France. Picknell's luminous, precisely observed Brittany landscapes—combining the luminous effect of the Brittany coast with the precise observation of the Pont-Aven landscape—represent one of the most accomplished traditions in American painting in France, and the 1881 painting shows this tradition at its most luminous.
Why It Matters
Pointe de Cabellou, Brittany is Picknell's luminous American Impressionism: the Brittany coast rendered in the precisely observed manner of one of the most accomplished American painters working in France. The 1881 painting shows the combination of luminous effect with precise observation that makes Picknell one of the most accomplished American painters working in Pont-Aven.
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