Frederick Judd Waugh

One of my favourite seascape painters.

Marine Evenings

Albert Goodwin, Sunset.
Arthur B. Davis.
Olof Thunman
Frederick Judd Waugh, Moonlight, 1893.
Pelle Svedlund, Evening on the West Coast (Sweden, c.1891).  

Sunsets provide a way of introducing warm colours: golden yellows and reds, into a marine painting, to balance out the coolness of the sea.

Rocks

Some marines I found on the Bonhams auction house site. I neglected to post them when the auction was current, in September last year. But better late than never.

There's a lot of white paint, contrasted with near blacks, in these works, which are all (I think) of rocky parts of East Coast of the US.

The first one is by Abraham Bogdanove, an artist born in Minsk (now in Belarus) who found the Maine Coast (particularly the rugged rocks of Monhegan Island) an endless source of inspiration.

The second is by contemporary painter Michael B Karas.

Two works by Frederick Judd Waugh follow.


Here are some beautiful nautical works from an upcoming Bonhams marine auction
http://www.bonhams.com/auctions/20482/

Montague Dawson, Eventide.
Antonio Jacobsen, the ship County of Ediburgh stranded on a beach.
Antonio Jacobsen, The ship El Rio at sea.

FJW from a Sotheby's Sale

Frederick Judd Waugh: Breaking Waves 
Rocky Coast and Sea

From an Upcoming Christie's Sale

Edward Moran, Fishing Boat in the English Channel, 45 x 32 inches
William Trost Richards, Brigantine Shoals, 27 x 20 inches
Frederick Judd Waugh, Surf on the Roaring Main, 30 x 40 inches  

Sothebys Auction - American paintings

Top to bottom: William Trost Richards, Frederick Judd Waugh

F Judd Waugh

Frederick Judd Waugh

Here's a link to a great post on the painting notes of F. Judd Waugh, the great master of surf painting: art and influence blog.

His seascape palette included three blues: cobalt, ultramarine, and cerulean. Viridian green combined with cerulean blue produces the turquoises in his foreground waves. Cerulean and viridian are essential for capturing the hues of seawater. He added the cool red, Alizarin crimson, to his skies to suggest distant rosiness. He also included cadmium red and yellow in his palette, warm colors suitable for foreground rocks and sand; and burnt and raw sienna would have served for underpainting cliffs and rocks. Sea foam needs to be a bright and opaque white. He used "permalba" white and ivory black (a cool black tending towards blue, suitable for the sea).
I'm not sure what was in the permalba white manufactured in the early 20th century but on a painting forum I read that the permalba white in art shops today is not very opaque.

Some books on F. Judd Waugh:

Paintings of the sea.

Memorial Exhibition: Paintings of the Sea By Frederick Judd Waugh, N.a., 1861-1940

At Pocock Fine Art Gallery

Source: Pocock Fine Art Gallery

Judd Waugh-Frederick, American, Evening Tide, 16 x 22 inches.






Alexander Dzigurski, Serbian, 1885-1967, Crashing Waves at Sunset, 16 x 20 inches.






Robert Gruppe, American, born 1944, Tropical Beach, 30 x 36 inches.









Stanley Woodward, Tropical Seas.

Frederick Judd Waugh

Frederick Judd Waugh - American

Pounding Surf ND, 11.5 x 15.75 inches

At his best, F Judd Waugh is one of my favourite seascape artists; for his sense of structure, and his fine observation of the forms of waves, foam and rocks. 

I realise that many would look on this type of painting as 'motel art'. This happens when a style of painting deservedly enjoys popularity, but then gets rehashed to death, and later haunts us as a kind of scary kitsch ghost. But if you see FJW's work in it's historical context, forgetting about subsequent imitation, you get a wonderfully clear evocation of the sea. He lived for almost 80 years - his first 40 in the 19th Century and the second half of his life in the 20th - so it's understandable that his work stands somewhat awkwardly between the Victorian and the Modern. Anyway, you'll find a lot of his work in this blog. FJW's reputation in the contemporary art market has not been helped by the sentimental figurative works he also did.

FJW was considered the successor to Winslow Homer as the greatest marine artist of his day in America, but is unlikely to have seen any of the elder artist's work.
He wrote, Painting by the Sea, and Seascape Painting, Step by Step with a Knife, instructional books on painting.

Frederick Judd Waugh - American

Rocky Coast
30 x 40 inches

This work is probably not a real view of a specific location but has been composed from sketches made in various locations.

Frederick Judd Waugh, American

The Open Sea,
57.8 x 82.6 cm

Frederick Judd Waugh

At the Base of the Cliff, 1908, 
40 x 50 inches

Before attempting a seascape, it's always a good idea to consider what the painting will be about. If it's about the sea, devoting a large proportion of the composition to the sky or land, may detract from the subject, and weaken what the painting has to say. Other elements can contribute to the overall mood, and to the evocation of a place in time, but often, just a strip of sky and a fragment of cliff are enough. In this work by the master seascape painter, Frederick Judd Waugh, 90% of the image is nothing but water and foam, but there is still the impression of a specific place and time  -  the base of a cliff, perhaps at evening.

Frederick Judd Waugh

Rocky Coast,
23 x 32 inches

Frederick Judd Waugh

Southwesterly Gale, St Ives 1907

Here's a link to an interesting post on Frederick Judd Waugh

Frederick Judd Waugh - American

Full Glow, attributed to FJD

Frederick Judd Waugh - American

Warm glow of early or last light on the rocks to left and right, linked by a trail of sunlit foam.

Frederick Judd Waugh - American

The Spell of the Sea, 25 x 30 inches

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The choice of a grey sky, rather than blue, allows the painting to focus on the dramatic white foam contrasted with the dark rocks. Focussing on a single element as subject makes for a much more powerful image.

Frederick Judd Waugh - American 1861-1940

Green Wave, 1935, 24 x 32 inches

Reddish hues in the rocks bring out the green of the wave, the subject of the painting.