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>
Girls Running Walberswick Pier
Presented by Lady Augustus Daniel 1951
actions: postures and motions
adults
architecture
boat, sailing
children
East Anglia
England
England, East
girl
natural phenomena
people
places
railing
running
sea
seascapes and coasts
seasons
shadow
society
Suffolk
summer
sunshine
townscapes / man-made features
transport: water
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
Walberswick
weather
woman
<p>Steer made many visits to Walberswick in Suffolk, where he had friends. He completed a number of paintings of the beach there that are among the most authentically Impressionist works produced in Britain. Here he captures the rich warmth of late afternoon sunlight but, unlike the French Impressionist Monet, he was just as interested in the figures as in their setting. Steer has reworked the dashed, broken colour of the paint surface extensively. The two girls were originally holding hands, and in their shadow they still are. This kind of picture was seen as uncompromisingly avant-garde. One critic in 1892 even described such works at the New English Art Club exhibition as 'evil'.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
6 July 2001 – 6 January 2002
2002-01-06
6 July 2001 – 6 January 2002
2002-01-06
2001-07-06
Palazzo Martinengo (Brescia, Italy)
1 December 2001 – 28 February 2002
2002-02-28
2001-12-01
Museo Archeologico Regionale (Aosta, Italy)
2001-07-06
Impressionisms in Europe
Loan-out
8 August 2001 – 21 April 2003
2003-04-21
8 August 2001 – 21 April 2003
2003-04-21
2001-08-08
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-08-08
French Influence on British Art
Collection based display
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
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
5 November 2012 – 20 July 2014
2014-07-20
2012-11-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-11-05
Gallery 9
Collection based display
31 January 2015 – 19 April 2015
2015-04-19
31 January 2015 – 19 April 2015
2015-04-19
2015-01-31
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery (Norwich, UK)
http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk
2015-01-31
Homage to Manet
Loan-out
Girls Running, Walberswick Pier
support: 629 × 927 mm
frame: 860 × 1170 × 95 mm
Presented by Lady Augustus Daniel 1951
<p>Steer made many visits to Walberswick in Suffolk, where he had friends. He completed a number 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> of the beach there that are among the most authentically <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> works produced in Britain. Here he captures the rich warmth of late afternoon sunlight but, unlike the French Impressionist Monet, he was just as interested in the figures as in their setting. Steer has reworked the dashed, broken colour of the paint surface extensively. The two girls were originally holding hands, and in their shadow they still are. This kind of picture was seen as uncompromisingly <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/avant-garde" title="Glossary definition for 'Avant-garde'"><span>avant-garde</span></a>. One critic in 1892 even described such works at 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/n/new-english-art-club" title="Glossary definition for 'New English Art Club'"><span>New English Art Club</span></a> exhibition as 'evil'.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-09T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N06008</b> GIRLS RUNNING: WALBERSWICK PIER 1888–94</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘Steer 94’ b.r.
<br/>Canvas, 24 3/4×36 1/2 (63×92·5).
<br/>Presented by Lady Augustus Daniel 1951.
<br/><i>Coll:</i>
Purchased by Sir Augustus Daniel from the Goupil Gallery April 1894.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Goupil Gallery, February 1894 (37), as ‘Girls running’; <i>Representative Works by some of the Foremost Painters of the Modern British School</i>, Goupil Gallery, June–July 1921 (3), as ‘Girls on the Pier’; Barbizon House, May 1927 (26), as ‘Walberswick Pier’; <i>The Collection of the late Sir Augustus Daniel</i>, Leicester Galleries, June 1951 (86).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> MacColl, 1945, pp.49, 195.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> Ironside, 1943, pl.24; John Rothenstein, <i>The Tate Gallery</i>, 1958, p.97 (in colour).</p>
<p>Post-dated 1894, this picture has been reworked. Bruce Laughton points out that the pierhead is on the opposite side of the harbour mouth from the view shown in <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/steer-the-beach-at-walberswick-n05351" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05351</span></a>; the curving shingle bank is the same. The scene is done from memory and not painted on the spot.</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/>
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-07-22T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults architecture boat, sailing children East Anglia England England, East girl natural phenomena people places railing running sea seascapes and coasts seasons shadow society Suffolk summer sunshine townscapes / man-made features transport: water UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions Walberswick weather woman