Painting the foaming, foreboding waters of the Atlantic Ocean, Hartley defers to the power of the sea. On the stormy shore of Schoodic Point, in Maine's Acadia National Park, he found a scene that showed no signs of human civilization—which must have suited him, for he once described Maine as a "brutal country" that is "strong, simple, stately." One of a series of seascapes that Hartley made in the 1930s and '40s, the painting captures his fascination with the American landscape and his home state. In works such as this, he strove to establish himself as "the painter from Maine".
Gallery label from American Modern: Hopper to O'Keeffe, August 17, 2013–January 26, 2014.
