TitleBeach Scene
Artist
James A. Suydam
(American, 1819 - 1865)
Daten.d.
MediumOil on canvas mounted on panel
DimensionsUnframed: 12 x 20 3/4 in.
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY, Bequest of James A. Suydam, 1865
Object number1306-P
Label TextThis painting illustrates Suydam's work at its most minimal. A whiplash arc of beach stretches from the lower right corner of the foreground nearly to the left edge before returning to the right edge again at the horizon. Despite its elevated vantage point, this panoramic scene reduces the distant landscape to a narrow wedge so that the composition has only three major elements: sea, sand, and sky. Suydam miniaturized the figures walking along the beach and reduced the waves to little more than white ripples. Ocean Beach shows Suydam's interest in abstracted landscape at its extreme.
