Brace's Rock, Brace's Cove

One of the last works painted by Fitz Henry Lane, Brace’s Rock, Brace’s Cove demonstrates the full maturing of his style in its haunting mood and stilled perfection of crystalline light. Despite its mysterious, dreamlike quality, the painting portrays an actual locale: a notoriously dangerous ledge and group of rocks off Eastern Point near the artist’s native Gloucester, Massachusetts, which was a prosperous Atlantic fishing port and summertime tourist destination. The view looks east across a sheltered cove, the calm ocean horizon visible in the far right distance. The unseen western sun tints the faraway rocks soft shades of pink and the placid water reflects the still-bright sky, but both the foreground and the two strings of rocks that cut into the water from right and left in the middle distance are darkly shadowed, suggesting a foreboding atmosphere. The perfect calm of this twilight scene is disturbed only by the gently lapping waves on the shore and by the disquieting presence of the skeletal boat, a resonant symbol of death and desolation.

 In the last year of his life Lane painted four similar and identically sized views of Brace’s Cove, all featuring the abandoned boat. The Terra Foundation’s version, perhaps the latest of the group, differs from the others in its starker contrasts of light and dark, in the placement of the boat near the middle of the composition, and in showing in the foreground not reeds and flowers but framing autumnal foliage in a state of decay that echoes that of the vessel. The series was painted when the artist’s health was declining and in the aftermath of a fire that devastated Gloucester; it reflects not only his bleak personal outlook but the dark national mood of the Civil War period, when the shipwrecked or abandoned vessel was a much-used powerful metaphor for the perilous condition of the “ship of state” and of the nation.

Lane spent his career painting scenes of the shore around Gloucester as well as in Maine and other coastal regions. In his early work, he focused on busy harbor scenes and rendered ships and their rigging in meticulous, accurate detail. As his work matured, in the 1850s, he became more preoccupied with light and its expressive potential and designed his compositions as unified wholes that transcend topographical specificity. Throughout his career, Lane’s style was characterized by highly refined brushwork that seems to purge his paintings of any trace of the artist’s presence. These qualities reach their full intensity in Brace’s Rock, Brace’s Cove, in which Lane uses the landscape of a familiar and much-loved place as the vehicle for suppressed emotion and mood. Modern scholars have long considered Brace’s Rock, Brace’s Cove to represent a benchmark in the landscape painting mode dubbed “luminism,” characterized by luminous light, still perfection, and an open, horizontal composition.

American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850–1875, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (organizer). Venue: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980, no 14 (as Brace's Rock). [exh. cat.]

A Mirror of Creation–150 Years of American Nature Painting. Vatican Museum, Collection of Modern Religious Art (organizer). Venues: Vatican Museum, Collection of Modern Religious Art, Rome, Italy, September 24–November 23, 1980; Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, December 20, 1980–March 1, 1981.

Masterworks in American Art from the Daniel J. Terra Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois, April 27–September 12, 1985.

A New World - American Landscape Painting 1839–1900, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden (organizer). Venues: Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden September 18–November 23, 1986; Goteborgs Konstmuseum, Gothenburg, Sweden, December 6, 1986–February 15, 1987.

A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 21–June 21, 1987. [exh. cat.]

Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (organizer). Venues: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., May 15–September 5, 1988; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, October 5–December 31, 1988. [exh. cat.]

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 1990.

Collection Cameo companion piece, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, August 1995.

Attitudes Toward Nature, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, September 30, 1995–April 21, 1996.

Permanent collection installation, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–August 27, 1997.

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.]

Selections from the Permanent Collection: Two Centuries of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 10–July 1, 2001.

American Sublime: Landscape Painting in the United States, 1820–1880, Tate Britain, London, England (organizer). Venues: Tate Britain, London, England, February 20–May 19, 2002; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 17–August 25, 2002; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 22–November 17, 2002. [exh. cat.]

American Classics from the Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 14–June 15, 2003.

Copley to Cassatt: Masterworks from the Terra Collection, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut and Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, September 5–December 7, 2003.

A Narrative of American Art, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, February 13–October 31, 2004.

Expanded Galleries of American Art with Loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, April 15, 2005–September 24, 2007.

Fitz Henry Lane & Mary Blood Mellen Old Mysteries and New Discoveries, Cape Ann Historical Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts (organizer). Venues: Cape Ann Historical Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts, July 7–September 16, 2007; Spanierman Gallery, New York, New York, October 4–December 1, 2007 New York venue only). [exh. cat.]

Galleries of American Art with Loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, December 2010–June 2016.

Continental Shift: Nineteenth Century American and Australian Landscape Painting, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth, Australia and Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venue: Art Gallery of Western Australia, July 30, 2016–February 5, 2017. [exh. cat.]

Not as the Songs of other Lands: 19th century Australian and American Landscape Painting, Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, Australia and Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizers). Venue: Ian Potter Museum of Art, March 14–June 11, 2017.

Galleries of American Art with Loans from the Terra Foundation for American Art Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, September 2017–present.

Baur, John I. H. A Mirror of Creation: 150 Years of American Nature Painting. (exh. cat., Vatican Museum). New York: Friends of American Art in Religion, Inc., 1980. Ill. no. 14 (color). Text (checklist, no. 14); ill. no. 14 (color, as Brace’s Rock).

Novak, Barbara. Nature and Culture: American Landscape Painting, 1825–1875. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. Ill. no. 10 (color).

Weinberg, Adam. “Photography Eclipsed.” Afterimage 8, no. 3 (October 1980): 17–18. Text p. 17; ill. p. 18 (black & white).

Wilmerding, John. American Light: The Luminist Movement, 1850–1875 (exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980. Text pp. 46, 81, 84, 102, 112; ill. p. 22, pl. 11 (black & white), p. 62, pl. 11 (color).

Millard, Charles W. “American Landscape Painting, 1850–1875.” The Hudson Review 34:2 (Summer 1981): 269–276. Text p. 272.

Novak, Barbara. "Une Amérique tranquille." Connaissance Arts 365–66 (July/August 1982): 72–75. Text p. 74; ill. p. 75 (color).

Gustafson, Eleanor H. "Museum Accessions." The Magazine Antiques 124, no. 5 (November 1983): 974, 976, 978. Text p. 974; ill. p. 974 (black & white).

Hemphill, Christopher. "Daniel Terra and His Collection." Town & Country (February 1984): 196. Ill. p. 196, pl. VIII.

Sokol, David M. "The Terra Museum of American Art, Evanston, Illinois." The Magazine Antiques 126:5 (November 1984): 1156–69. Ill. p. 1159, pl. VIII (color).

Smith, Gayle L. “Emerson and the Luminist Painters: A Study of Their Styles.” American Quarterly 37:2 (Summer 1985): 193–215. Text p. 206. Ill. p. 206, fig. 3 (black & white, image credit listed as The Tara Museum of American Art).

Atkinson, D. Scott et al. A Proud Heritage: Two Centuries of American Art. Edited by Terry A. Neff. (exh. cat., Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1987. Ill. p. 122, pl. T-13 (color).

Wilmerding, John et al. Paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane. (exh. cat., National Gallery of Art). Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1988. Text pp. 36, 39, 161 (checklist, cat. 22); ill. p. 37, cat. 22 (color).

Winslow Homer in Gloucester. (exh. cat. Terra Museum of American Art). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Museum of American Art, 1990. Text pp. 11–12, 58; ill. p. 58, fig. 40 (black & white).

Brace's Rock, Brace's Cove, Fitz Hugh Lane. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 1990. Ill. (black & white).

Goddard, Donald. American Painting. New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, Inc., 1990. Ill. p. 70 (color).

Vallino, Fabienne-Charlotte Oraezie. "Alle radici dell'etica ambientale: pensiero sulla natura, vilderness e creativita artistica negli Stati Uniti del XIX secolo." Storia dell'Arte. Rome, Italy: Universita degli Studi della Tuscia, 1993. Ill. p. 241, fig. 21.

Miller, David C. “The Iconology of Wrecked or Stranded Boats in Mid to Late Nineteenth-Century American Culture.” In American Iconology: New Approaches to Nineteenth-Century Art and Literature. Edited by David C. Miller. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993. Text pp. 192, 195. Ill. p. 193, fig. 9.5 (color, image incorrectly credited as Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Karolik Collection).

Novak, Barbara. Nature and Culture: American Landscape Painting, 1825–1875, rev. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Ill. no. 10 (color).

Yaeger, Bert D. The Hudson River School: American Landscape Artists. New York: Smithmark Publishers, 1996. Text p. 50; ill. p. 51 (color detail), p. 53 (color), back cover (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 p. 27 (checklist); ill. p. 32 (color).

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 p. 27 (checklist); ill. p. 32 (color).

MacDonald, Scott. “Peter Hutton: The Filmmaker as Luminist.” Chicago Review 47:3 (Fall 2001): 67–87. Text p. 74; ill. p. 75 (black & white).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. An American Point of View: The Daniel J. Terra Collection. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 62, 200; ill. pp. 8 (color), 63 (color), 200 (black & white).

Bourguignon, Katherine M. and Elizabeth Kennedy. Un regard transatlantique. La collection d'art américain de Daniel J. Terra. Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 62, 200; ill. pp. 8 (color), 63 (color), 200 (black & white).

Wilton, Andrew and Tim Barringer. American Sublime: Landscape Painting in the United States 1820–1880. (exh. cat., Tate Britain). London, England: Tate Publishing, 2002. Text pp. 202, 254; ill. p. 202 (color).

Kennedy, Elizabeth. "The Terra Museum of American Art." American Art Review (December 2002): 126–41. Text pp. 131–32.

Czestochowski, Joseph S. Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of the Sublime. Memphis, TN: Torch Press and International Arts, 2004. Ill. p. 184, pl. 91 (color).

Vaughan, William. Friedrich. New York: Phaidon Press, 2004. Ill. p. 315 (color).

Wilmerding, John. Fitz Henry Lane & Mary Blood Mellen Old Mysteries and New Discoveries. (exh. cat., Spanierman Gallery). New York, New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2007. Text pp. 24, 37, 42; ill. p. 39, fig. 36 (color), p. 103, cat. no. 50 (color).

Tedeschi, Martha with Dahm, Kristi. Watercolors by Winslow Homer: The Color of Light. (exh. cat., The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois). Chicago, Illinois: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2008. Text p. 37; ill. p. 37, fig. 2 (color).

Neset, Arne. Arcadian Waters and Wanton Seas: The Iconology of Waterscapes in Nineteenth-Century Transatlantic Culture. New York, New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 2009. Text p. 183; ill. p. 182, fig. 8.13 (black & white).

“Brace's Rock, 1864 (inv. 73)”. Fitz Henry Lane Online. Cape Ann Museum. Accessed January 27, 2016. Cat no. 73 (color, as Brace’s Rock).

Holdsworth, Sam. “Brace's Rock Series.” Fitz Henry Lane Online. Cape Ann Museum. Accessed January 27, 2016. Ill. (color, as Brace’s Rock).

Baca, Miguel de. Memory Work: Anne Truitt and Sculpture. Oakland, CA: University of California Press, 2016. Text pp. 70–71; ill. p. 71, fig. 28 (black & white).

Bourguignon, Katherine M., and Peter John Brownlee, eds. Conversations with the Collection: A Terra Foundation Collection Handbook. Chicago: Terra Foundation for American Art, 2018. Text pp. 46–47, 64, 65; fig. 3, p. 47; ill. p. 64, detail pp. 66-67 (color).