Tempera on canvas on wood
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/edward-wadsworth-2113" aria-label="More by Edward Wadsworth" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Edward Wadsworth</a>
Beached Margin
Purchased 1938
agriculture, gardening & fishing
animals: fish and aquatic life
beach
boat, sailing
float
objects
scientific and measuring
scientific instrument
sea
seascapes and coasts
society
spade
starfish
toys and models
transport: water
<p>With its unexpected juxtapositions and shifts in scale, and its precise tempera technique, <i>The Beached Margin</i> is typical of Wadsworth’s still lifes. Although never a Surrealist, his paintings incorporated disconcerting imagery that related to the work of de Chirico. Widely travelled, Wadsworth was better informed than most British artists about developments in the Continental art world. In the early 1930s he joined Unit One, a group of artists and architects who were determined to bring Modernism into British culture.</p><p><em>Gallery label, April 2010</em></p>
painting tempera canvas wood
1 February 2001 – 2 June 2003
2003-06-02
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2001-02-01
Modern British Art II
Collection based display
20 July 2013 – 31 January 2014
2014-01-31
20 July 2013 – 22 September 2013
2013-09-22
2013-07-20
Nottingham Contemporary (Nottingham, UK)
http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/
2013-07-20
Aquatopia
Loan-out
20 July 2013 – 26 January 2014
2014-01-26
20 July 2013 – 22 September 2013
2013-09-22
2013-07-20
Nottingham Contemporary (Nottingham, UK)
http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/
12 October 2013 – 26 January 2014
2014-01-26
2013-10-12
Tate St Ives (St Ives, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/stives/
2013-07-20
Aquatopia
Exhibition
26 November 2016 – 7 June 2020
2020-06-07
26 November 2016 – 7 June 2020
2020-06-07
2016-11-26
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2016-11-26
Lowry
Collection based display
The Beached Margin
support: 711 × 1016 mm
frame: 910 × 1215 × 85 mm
Purchased 1938
<p>With its unexpected juxtapositions and shifts in scale, and its precise tempera technique, 
<br/><i>The Beached Margin</i> is typical of Wadsworth’s still lifes. Although never a Surrealist, his paintings incorporated disconcerting imagery that related to the work of de Chirico. Widely travelled, Wadsworth was better informed than most British artists about developments in the Continental art world. In the early 1930s he joined Unit One, a group of artists and architects who were determined to bring Modernism into British culture.</p>

Display caption
2010-04-02T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N04935</b> THE BEACHED MARGIN 1937
<br/>
<br/>Inscr. ‘E. Wadsworth 1937’ b.l.
<br/>Tempera on linen laid on panel, 28×40 (71×101·5).
<br/>Purchased from the artist through Arthur Tooth &amp; Sons Ltd (Clarke Fund) 1938.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Tooth's, April–May 1938 (13); Tate Gallery, February–March 1951 (30); Venice Biennale, 1952 (British Pavilion, 72).
<br/><i>Repr:</i> John Rothenstein, <i>The Tate Gallery</i>, 1962, p.256.</p>
<p>The artist seems to have stopped <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>painting</span></a> <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscapes</span></a> and harbour scenes such as <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wadsworth-seaport-t00497" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T00497</span></a> by about 1925 and turned to <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/still-life" title="Glossary definition for 'Still life'"><span>still life</span></a>, often composed of shells and mechanical objects with a nautical connotation, binoculars, sextants, for example, sometimes set against a seascape background. ‘The Beached Margin’ is a logical development of this type of subject which is perhaps partly inspired by <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/surrealism" title="Glossary definition for 'Surrealism'"><span>Surrealist</span></a> techniques, but also owes much to Léger, whose style Wadsworth imitated briefly in a series of still lifes of 1930–2. (Cf. also <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wadsworth-still-life-n05147" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05147</span></a>.)</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
2004-10-06T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
agriculture, gardening & fishing animals: fish and aquatic life beach boat, sailing float objects scientific and measuring scientific instrument sea seascapes and coasts society spade starfish toys and models transport: water