Girl in Bow of Canoe Spreading Out Her Loin-Cloth for a Sail, Samoa

1895-1896

John La Farge

Associated Names
John La Farge

Artist, American, 1835 - 1910

This painting depicts a woman standing at the edge of a small wooden boat, facing the right and holding up a blue cloth that billows in the breeze. The woman has pale skin and short brown hair, and she is nude. The boat is on calm water with gentle ripples. The water and the sky above it are in shades of pale blue and pale green, with some hints of pink and yellow.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    watercolor and gouache over graphite on wove paper mounted to paperboard

  • Credit Line

    Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase)

  • Dimensions

    board: 38.74 × 58.1 cm (15 1/4 × 22 7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2015.19.966

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Doll and Richards, Boston, Massachusetts); Joshua Montgomery Sears, Boston, Massachusetts, 1898; Mrs. Joshua Montgomery (Sarah Choates) Sears, Boston, Massachusetts, 1905; Mrs. J. D. Cameron (Sarah Sears) Bradley, Boston, Massachusetts, 1934; Dr. WIlliam H. Smith, New York, 1934; (Childs Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, 1960); Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1960; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1896

  • [exhibition title unknown], Doll and Richards, Boston, Massachusetts, 1896, no. 17

1897

  • [exhibition title unknown], Boston Art Club, Massachusetts, 1897, no. 105 (as "South Sea Idyl")

1898

  • Exhibition and Private Sale of Paintings in Water Color Chiefly from South Sea Islands and Japan by Mr. John La Farge, Doll and Richards, Boston, Massachusetts, 1898, no. 7

1905

  • [loan on deposit], Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, 1905-1907

1911

  • Memorial Exhibition of La Farge Paintings, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, 1911

1929

  • [exhibition title unknown], Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, 1929, no. 56

1931

  • [exhibition title unknown], Wildenstein, New York, 1931, no. 22

1936

  • Prints and Drawings by Winslow Homer and John La Farge, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, 1936 (as "Girl on a Canoe")

  • An Exhibition of the Work of John La Farge, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1936, no. 52 (as "Girl Standing in a Canoe")

1963

  • Progress of An American Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1963

1980

  • The Human Form: Contemporary American Figure Drawing and the Academic Tradition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1980, no. 13

1983

  • American Master Drawings from the Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1983

1984

  • The American Figure: Vanderlyn to Bellows, Mansfield Art Center, Ohio, 1984, no. 8 (as "Samoan Girl in a Canoe")

1986

  • American Masters: Works on Paper from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, 1986-1988, pp. 37-38, no. 19, repro

1990

  • John La Farge: Watercolors and Drawings, Hudson River Museum, Westchester, New York, 1990-1991, p. 99, no. 43, repro

1996

  • The Collection in Context: Paul Gauguin, Hirshhorn Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 1996-1997

2010

  • John La Farge's Second Paradise: Voyages in the South Seas, 1890-1891, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut; Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, 2010-2011, p. 34, fig. 34, no. 30, repro

Bibliography

1983

  • Simmons, Linda Crocker and with the assistance of Adrianne J. Humphrey, et al. American Drawings, Watercolors, Pastels, and Collages in the Collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, DC: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1983: p. 76, no. 476.

1987

  • Adams, Henry, Kathleen A. Foster, et al. John La Farge. New York: Abbeville Press, 1987, p. 116.

1988

  • Yarnell, James L. "John La Farge and Henry Adams in the South Seas." American Art Journal 20, no. 1 (1988): p. 100.

1998

  • Yarnell, James L. Recreation and Idleness: The Pacific Travels of John La Farge. New York: V. Jordan Fine Art, 1998, p. 166, fig. 195.

Inscriptions

lower left in blue gouache: LA FARGE SAMOA

Wikidata ID

Q64582833

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