William James Glackens (American, 1870–1938), Breezy Day, Tugboats, New York Harbor, ca. 1910. Oil on canvas, 26 × 31 3/4 in. (66.04 × 80.65 cm). Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Abert and Mrs. Barbara Abert Tooman. M1974.230. Photo: John Nienhuis, Dedra Walls.
Best known as a member of the group of American realist painters The Eight, William Glackens began his artistic career as a successful illustrator in Philadelphia. Admired for his ability to memorize a specific time and place, Glackens was able to transfer his illustrative skills to the canvas. His paintings of New York parks, harbors, theaters, and other public spaces are embedded with narrative cues that enable the viewer to readily identify the location. In addition to its identifying title, the harbor scene of Breezy Day, Tugboats, New York Harbor is differentiated by the Statue of Liberty in the distance and the emerging city skyline on the horizon.
Breezy Day, Tugboats represents a shift in Glackens's style. His early works, done around the turn of the century, are painted with the dark, earthy colors of the Dutch Old Masters and in a style indebted to late nineteenth-century French artists, especially Edouard Manet. Trips to Europe in 1906 and 1909, combined with the influence of associates Ernest Lawson and Maurice Prendergast, led Glackens gradually to adopt a brighter palette similar to that of Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The full transition is evident in Breezy Day, Tugboats: the choppy water is painted with short, quick strokes of bright blue and white over murky greens and maroons, while the luminous sky is a shower of diagonal pastel pinks, blues, and greens. With a few strokes of matching paint, the boats' reflections are integrated into the water. The liberal application of the paint overall leaves a wonderfully textured surface, most pronounced in the puff of smoke rising from the tugboats and connecting sky and water.
Excerpt from Building A Masterpiece: Milwaukee Art Museum. New York: Hudson Hill Press, 2001, P. 135. Entry by Jennifer Van Schmus Chartier.
