Coastline, Narragansett, Rhode Island

Coastline, Narragansett, Rhode Island appears to be one of numerous studies by William Stanley Haseltine of the rocky shore between Narragansett Pier and Point Judith, south of Narragansett Bay on the Rhode Island shore, where the artist worked in the summers of 1862 and 1863. The careful observation required for these detailed drawings yielded several paintings that were widely praised as scientifically accurate records of evidence of the region's geologic history. As in Indian Rock with Distant Clouds, Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island (TF 1999.64), Haseltine uses delicate line and thin wash to emphasize the broad, flat surfaces of the layered rock, formed by slow glaciation, as it slants into the still water of the sea. The scattered sailboats on the calm horizon and the figure of a man fishing from the rocks recall the region's character as a popular summertime resort; in his paintings Haseltine often used such human touches to contrast the commonplace social world of the present with the vast time scale and majestic force of natural processes. Consistent with the artist's obsessive preoccupation with rocks, however, these human elements are faint, almost ghost-like forms compared with the stolid presence of the rocks, while the grassy border in the foreground is suggested more than rendered.

Originally titled Coastline, Nahant, Massachusetts, this work might easily portray the shoreline at Nahant, Massachusetts, or even Maine's Mount Desert Island. Indeed, both the composition of the drawing and the character of the rocks recall the painting Rocks at Nahant (TF 1999.65). In all three locales, where Haseltine worked between the late 1850s and the early 1860s, he made drawings that focus closely on similar seaside rock formations, which he detailed carefully in contrast to his rendering of the water. At the time, these places were all popular resort destinations that offered a well-to-do clientele for souvenir landscape views. Haseltine's coastline paintings were resoundingly popular because they combined familiar settings with an attention to geologic realities that tapped contemporary interest in scientific accounts of creation.

William Stanley Haseltine, Davis & Langdale Company, Inc., New York, New York and Ben Ali Haggin, Inc., New York, New York, March 5–April 2, 1983. [exh. cat.]

Expressions of Place: The Art of William Stanley Haseltine, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California (organizer). Venues: The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California, June 20–September 20, 1992; Brandywine River Museum, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, January 20–April 18, 1983. [exh. cat.]

Rivières et rivages: les artistes américains, 1850–1900 (Waves and Waterways: American Perspectives, 1850–1900), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2000. [exh. cat.]

Wilmerding, John. William Stanley Haseltine (1835–1900): Drawings of a Painter. (exh. cat., Davis & Langdale Company, Inc.). New York: Davis & Langdale Company, Inc. in association with Ben Ali Haggin, Inc., 1983. Ill. no. 2 (black & white as New England Coast).

Simpson, Marc, Andrea Henderson, and Sally Mills. Expressions of Place: The Art of William Stanley Haseltine. (exh. cat., The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco). San Francisco, California: The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1992. Text p. 20; pl. 18, p. 91 (color).

Cartwright, Derrick R. Waves and Waterways: American Perspectives, 1850–1900. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 20, 27 (checklist); fig. 15, p. 21 (black & white).

Cartwright, Derrick R. Rivières et rivages: les artistes américains, 1850–1900. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2000. Text pp. 20, 27 (checklist); fig. 15, p. 21 (black & white).