Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/philip-wilson-steer-1990" aria-label="More by Philip Wilson Steer" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Philip Wilson Steer</a>
Southwold
Purchased 1942
adults
architecture
boat, sailing
children
East Anglia
England
England, East
girl
leisure and pastimes
people
places
promenade
railing
recreational activities
sea
seascapes and coasts
society
Southwold
Suffolk
townscapes / man-made features
transport: water
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
walking
woman
<p>Steer spent several summers on the East Coast, at Walberswick and Southwold in Suffolk, making pictures of holidaymakers in the sun. He made rough notes on the spot in sketchbooks, and in the studio made designs for a series of paintings. These were most original in their dislocation of the figures, and their shorthand sketchy outlines. The colours have a brilliance that went beyond the Impressionist paintings of Monet that Steer had seen in London. Although they look spontaneous, most of them took several years to complete.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
11 October 2002 – 5 January 2003
2003-01-05
11 October 2002 – 5 January 2003
2003-01-05
2002-10-11
Frist Center for the Visual Arts (Nashville, USA)
2002-10-11
Whistler Sargent and Steer - Frist
Tate partnerships & programmes
14 May 2005 – 20 November 2005
2005-11-20
14 May 2005 – 4 September 2005
2005-09-04
2005-05-14
Lady Lever Art Gallery (Port Sunlight, UK)
17 September 2005 – 20 November 2005
2005-11-20
2005-09-17
Ferens Art Gallery (Hull, UK)
http://www.hullcc.gov.uk/museumcollections
2005-05-14
Beside the Seaside: the British Impressionists
Loan-out
23 June 2006 – 4 December 2006
2006-12-04
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2006-06-23
Philip Wilson Steer The British Impressionist
Collection based display
Southwold
support: 505 × 610 mm
frame: 715 × 815 × 65 mm
Purchased 1942
<p>Steer spent several summers on the East Coast, at  Walberswick and Southwold in Suffolk, making  pictures of holidaymakers in the sun. He made  rough notes on the spot in sketchbooks, and in the  studio made designs for a series of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a>.  These were most original in their dislocation of  the figures, and their shorthand sketchy outlines.  The colours have a brilliance that went beyond the  <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/i/impressionism" title="Glossary definition for 'Impressionism'"><span>Impressionist</span></a> paintings of Monet that Steer had  seen in London. Although they look spontaneous,  most of them took several years to complete.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05374</b> SOUTHWOLD <i>c.</i> 1889</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Not inscribed.
<br/>Canvas, 20×24 (51×61).
<br/>Purchased from Christie's (Knapping Fund) 1942.<br/><i>Coll:</i> Steer Sale, Christie's, 16 July 1942 (148), bt. Nicholson for the Tate Gallery.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> National Gallery, June–August 1943 (65).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> MacColl, 1945, p.189; John Rothenstein, <i>Modern English Painters: Sickert to Smith,</i> 1952, pp.64–5.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> <i>Studio</i>, CXXVII, 1944, p.150.</p>
<p>A signed and dated (1887) work ‘At Southwold’ was exhibited at the National Gallery in 1943 (67) as ‘On the Cliffs’, but <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/steer-southwold-n05374" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05374</span></a> seems related stylistically to ‘Boulogne Sands’ of 1888–91 (<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/steer-boulogne-sands-n05439" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05439</span></a>) and ‘Girls Running: Walberswick Pier’ of 1888–94 (<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/steer-girls-running-walberswick-pier-n06008" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N06008</span></a>), and should perhaps be placed <i>c.</i> 1889. This dating is supported by a sketch for the three seated figures on p.68 of a sketchbook in the V. &amp; A. (E.275) which the artist used mostly on the Walberswick-Southwold coast about 1888–9 (information from Bruce Laughton). Southwold lies across the river from Walberswick on the East Anglian coast.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-07-21T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults architecture boat, sailing children East Anglia England England, East girl leisure and pastimes people places promenade railing recreational activities sea seascapes and coasts society Southwold Suffolk townscapes / man-made features transport: water UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions walking woman