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Sunburst at Sea

Pastel and graphite on paper
27 7/8 x 30 inches
Circa 1913–1914

As publishedin:
Scenic Impressions: Southern Interpretations from the Johnson Collection

Alice: Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, Charleston Renaissance Artist
 

As exhibited in: Scenic Impressions: Southern Interpretations from the Johnson Collection, 2015–2018, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee; Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia; McKissick Museum of Art at the University of South Carolina, Columbia; Telfair Museums, Savannah, Georgia; Knoxville Museum of Art, Tennessee; Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts at Wofford College, Spartanburg, South Carolina

Birge Harrison’s penchant for muted colors designates him a Tonalist, an aesthetic enhanced by his use of pastel in Sunburst at Sea. His selection of the medium was also a practical matter: Harrison suffered from lead poisoning, probably as a result of oil paint. He came to like pastel: “During the past two years I have produced a series of paintings in pastel which are as sound and lasting as the best oil paintings while retaining the exquisite bloom and atmospheric quality which is the distinctive beauty of the pastel, a quality which is due, of course, to its soft, dry, unreflecting surface.”

Harrison began to visit Charleston in 1908 and returned for several winters, escaping the chill of his home in Woodstock, New York. He was an important influence on local artist Alice Smith and was instrumental in suggesting that Alfred Hutty teach classes there.