Oil paint on wood
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>
Beach at Walberswick
Purchased 1942
actions: processes and functions
adults
animals: mammals
bay
beach
boat, sailing
children
dog - non-specific
East Anglia
England
England, East
girl
looking / watching
people
places
sea
seascapes and coasts
society
Suffolk
transport: water
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
Walberswick
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. They are all fluidly painted and concentrate upon effects of atmosphere and light but, unlike Monet, Steer was just as interested in the figures as their setting. When paintings like this were exhibited for the first time in Britain the 1880s and 1890s they were seen as being 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 wood
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
15 June 2005 – 4 September 2005
2005-09-04
15 June 2005 – 4 September 2005
2005-09-04
2005-06-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-06-15
A Picture of Britain
Exhibition
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
1 December 2011 – 10 June 2012
2012-06-10
15 December 2011 – 10 March 2012
2012-03-10
2011-12-15
Royal Albert Memorial Museum and Art Gallery (Exeter, UK)
http://www.exeter.gov.uk
11 March 2012 – 10 June 2012
2012-06-10
2012-03-11
Compton Verney (Compton Verney, UK)
2011-12-01
Into the Light, French & British painting from Impressionism to the early 1920's
Loan-out
26 March 2015 – 27 May 2020
2020-05-27
26 March 2015 – 21 June 2015
2015-06-21
2015-03-26
Museo Nacional de Arte (Mexico City, Mexico)
18 July 2015 – 18 October 2015
2015-10-18
2015-07-18
Pinacoteca do Estado (São Paulo, Brazil)
27 April 2018 – 5 August 2018
2018-08-05
2018-04-27
Shanghai Art Museum (Shanghai, China)
4 September 2018 – 13 November 2018
2018-11-13
2018-09-04
National Art Museum of China (Beijing, China)
27 November 2019 – 27 May 2020
2020-05-27
2019-11-27
Hong Kong Museum of Art (Hong Kong, China)
2015-03-26
British Landscape
Tate partnerships & programmes
The Beach at Walberswick
support: 603 × 761 × 15 mm
frame: 807 × 968 × 87 mm
Purchased 1942
<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. They are all fluidly painted and concentrate upon effects of atmosphere and light but, unlike Monet, Steer was just as interested in the figures as their setting. When paintings like this were exhibited for the first time in Britain the 1880s and 1890s they were seen as being 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
2004-09-03T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05351</b> THE BEACH AT WALBERSWICK (?) <i>c.</i> 1889</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘P. W. Steer 91’ and, on back, ‘P. W. Steer. pinx.<sup>t</sup>’
<br/>Canvas, 23 3/4×30 (60·5×76).
<br/>Purchased from George E. Healing through the Leicester Galleries (Knapping Fund) 1942.
<br/><i>Coll:</i> George Healing by 1929.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Tate Gallery, April–July 1929 (111), as ‘Three Figures on a Pier’ (incorrectly dated 1891); National Gallery, June–August 1943 (70).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> MacColl, 1945, p.191; John Rothenstein, <i>Modern English Painters: Sickert to Smith</i>, 1952, p.63.
<br/><i>Repr:</i> Ironside, 1943, pl.22.</p>
<p>Steer, who had friends at Walberswick, Suffolk, stayed there in 1884 on his return from Paris, and again possibly in the summer of 1885–6; his next visits were made in 1888–9, and apparently in 1890 also, although this is not recorded in MacColl's list (<i>op. cit.,</i> p.186); according to this list Steer was at Swanage. A picture entitled ‘The Beach, Walberswick’ was shown at the <i><a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/b/british-impressionism" title="Glossary definition for 'British Impressionism'"><span>London Impressionists</span></a></i> exhibition, held at the Goupil Gallery, December 1889 (33). Although <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> bears the date 1891, it seems possible that this date may have been added later, since several other <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> have been post-dated by the artist (e.g. <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/steer-a-procession-of-yachts-n03668" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N03668</span></a>, which is dated 1893 but was shown in 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>N.E.A.C</span></a>., November 1892). Either this work or <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/steer-figures-on-the-beach-walberswick-n05766" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05766</span></a> may be identical with the 1889 Goupil exhibition picture.</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
2004-10-07T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: processes and functions adults animals: mammals bay beach boat, sailing children dog - non-specific East Anglia England England, East girl looking / watching people places sea seascapes and coasts society Suffolk transport: water UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions Walberswick woman