Brittany Harbor
Christopher WOOD
(British, 1901-1930)
Brittany Harbor
Dateca. 1929
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionsoverall: 18 1/8 × 24 in. (46 × 61 cm)
frame: 23 3/4 × 29 3/4 × 2 1/2 in. (60.3 × 75.6 × 6.4 cm)
ClassificationPAINTINGS
Credit LineSBMA, Gift of James H. Whyte
Object number1953.2.2
Subject(s)
- boat
- ocean
- seascape
- townscapes (built environment)
Collection
- European
- 20th century European
Sub-Collection(s)
- British
- English
On View
Not on viewLabel TextThis is one of a series of paintings that Wood produced at what, only posthumously, would be recognized as the culmination of his brief career. An ambitious artist, who in his twenties managed to meet and socialize with some of the most sophisticated society of the art world, Wood ingested the lessons of Cézanne, van Gogh, Picasso, and Cocteau to produce, as this modest canvas attests, the naïve effect that was so admired for its sincerity during the early 20th century. At this point in his career, Wood had been most closely identified with the group known as the Seven and Five Society, led by the artist Ben Nicholson, with whom he often painted side by side. Nicholson and Wood had recently met and been further ‘primitivized’ by the example of Alfred Wallis, an old fisherman turned self-styled painter, whose child-like paintings of the sea they both deeply admired. Tragically, Wood was to take his own life at the age of 30, most likely delusional due to withdrawal from his opium addiction. He is still considered one of the most gifted artists of his generation, even though his potential was never fully realized.
