The Waste of Waters is Their Field
Albert Pinkham Ryder
American Art
On View: Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor
Albert Pinkham Ryder based this seascape on a poem by the Englishman Robert Southey that recounted the ocean voyage of a medieval king to the New World: “Day after day, day after day the same,— / A weary waste of waters!” Ryder was regarded as a visionary and experimental painter among artists. He often addressed the theme of human destiny, as played out in literature or the Bible. Influenced by modern European art, he rendered his subjects with highly simplified or expressively exaggerated forms and densely textured surfaces that challenged the visual expectations of his American audience.
MEDIUM
Oil on panel
DATES
early 1880s
DIMENSIONS
11 5/16 x 12 in. (28.8 x 30.5 cm)
frame (observed Feb 2016): 19 1/4 x 20 1/8 x 4 1/4 in. (48.9 x 51.1 x 10.8 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Unsigned
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
14.556
CREDIT LINE
John B. Woodward Memorial Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is on view in Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor
CAPTION
Albert Pinkham Ryder (American, 1847–1917). The Waste of Waters is Their Field, early 1880s. Oil on panel, 11 5/16 x 12 in. (28.8 x 30.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, John B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 14.556 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 14.556_SL1.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 14.556_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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