Items Similar to Ships in a Harbor
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 8
John WhorfShips in a Harbor
$87,500
£66,478.40
€76,397.64
CA$122,904.48
A$133,778.43
CHF 70,884.40
MX$1,608,888.06
NOK 901,277.11
SEK 825,920.75
DKK 570,685.74
About the Item
Ships in a Harbor
Oil on canvas, 19 x 24 inches (48.3 x 61 cm)
Signed lower right: John Whorf
Provenance
The artist;
Collection of Ginger and Richard Beckwith, until 2021;
Private collection, Palm Beach, FL until 2025
John Whorf was born in Boston in 1903. His father, Harry Whorf, was an artist and graphic designer. When John decided at a young age to become an artist himself, his father provided early instruction and encouragement. When he was 14, Whorf enrolled in art classes at the St. Botolph Studio and the Museum of Fine Arts School, but ultimately he eschewed formal training, opting instead to simply “paint.” As with most artists, Whorf longed to travel abroad. After recovering from an accident that left him temporarily paralyzed, he set out on his first journey to Europe at the age of eighteen. During that time, he began painting with watercolor, and found that it suited him and his lifestyle better than oils. A difficult medium to master, watercolor requires that an artist work quickly, almost intuitively.
Whorf’s ability to capture natural colors and blend them with shadow and light earned him renown. In 1924 he had his first one-man show at the Grace Horne Gallery in Boston. More than fifty of his paintings sold during that exhibition, and his reputation as a leading watercolorist was secured. Throughout his life, Whorf exhibited in galleries in New York and Boston. And in 1947 he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Design.
Whorf created realist depictions of urban and rural imagery, but his finest inspiration came from the Cape Cod landscape, where he ultimately settled. As a whole, his works have the uncanny ability to take his viewer to the everyday scenes of Provincetown as well as to the more exotic locales of Europe and North Africa. Like Winslow Homer before him, Whorf found great inspiration in the Bahamian landscape and Ships in a Harbor is a wonderful example from this body of work. The fluid brushwork and extraordinary color deftly captures the landscape and transports the viewer into the scene.
- Creator:John Whorf (1903-1959, American)
- Dimensions:Height: 19 in (48.26 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Bryn Mawr, PA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2773217050842
John Whorf
John Whorf was a master watercolorist and a native of Boston. He was known for his depictions of genre subjects and views of harbors and beach scenes. He studied painting at the St. Botolph Studio and School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston, and at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and École Nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris. Whorf was awarded an honorary M.A. degree from Harvard University in 1938 and received a medal in 1938 and a prize in 1939 from the Art Institute of Chicago. His first exhibition of 52 paintings, when he was 20, sold out. After many years of traveling, Whorf spent the last years of his life in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and was part of its art colony for many years. He died there in 1959.
About the Seller
5.0
Recognized Seller
These prestigious sellers are industry leaders and represent the highest echelon for item quality and design.
Established in 2001
1stDibs seller since 2024
7 sales on 1stDibs
Typical response time: 1 hour
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Shipping from: Bryn Mawr, PA
- Return Policy
More From This Seller
View AllHarbor View
By John Whorf
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Harbor View
Oil on canvas, 24 x 49 inches (61 x 124.5 cm)
Signed lower right: John Whorf
Provenance
The artist;
Collection of Ginger and Richard Beckwith, until 2021;
Private collec...
Category
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$85,000
Summer Regatta
By Antonio Pietro Martino
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Signed lower right: Antonio P. Martino
Provenance
Private collection, Pennsylvania
Antonio Martino's career is marked by numerous awards and accolades. By seventeen he was exhibiting publicly, and in his early twenties he had won honorable mentions from the Art Club of Philadelphia as well as the Philadelphia Sketch Club. In 1925 when he had two paintings accepted at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts' Annual Exhibition, his teacher Albert Adolphe...
Category
Late 20th Century Landscape Paintings
Materials
Oil
Provincetown Seaside Landscape
By John Whorf
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
John Whorf was born in Boston in 1903. His father, Harry Whorf, was an artist and graphic designer. When John decided at a young age to become an artist himself, his father provided ...
Category
1930s Post-Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Before the Regatta
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Antonio Martino's work is a prominent example of the long tradition of realistic painting and instruction in Philadelphia. Painted towards the end of his long career, Before the Rega...
Category
Late 20th Century Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
T-Wharf in Winter
By Arthur Clifton Goodwin
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
Provenance
Bonhams Skinner - Malborough, March 8, 1991, lot 226;
Private collection, Pennsylvania, until 2022
A painter especially known for street and waterfront scenes of Boston, ...
Category
1910s American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Materials
Oil, Canvas
The White Boat, Edgartown
By Jane Peterson
Located in Bryn Mawr, PA
The White Boat, Edgartown, c. 1916
Watercolor and gouache on board
18 x 24 inches (45.7 x 61 cm)
Framed dims: 24 x 29 1/2 inches
Signed at lower right: JANE PETERSON
Inscribed on ver...
Category
1910s American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors
Materials
Watercolor, Gouache, Board
You May Also Like
The Sloop Catherine, 1927
By John Whorf
Located in New York, NY
John Whorf paints a ship anchored in a harbor from below, with its prow and rigging extending towards the viewer, in his watercolor painting “The Sloop Catherine, 1927.”
Category
20th Century Landscape Paintings
Materials
Watercolor, Board
Harborfront, American Impressionist, 20th Century, Wooden Sailing Ships at Dock
Located in Wiscasset, ME
In "Harborfront" the artist uses colorful, impressionist brushstrokes to bring a working waterfront to life.
Category
20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil, Board
"Ship and Boats" Harbor Scene Impressionist Oil Painting Style of Emile Gruppe
Located in New York, NY
A powerful scene of a harbor depicting several colorful sailing boats with rich color tones and bold brushwork. An oil on canvas impressionist painting with much attention to detail....
Category
Mid-20th Century Post-Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Sailing Boats at Harbour
, Oil painting on canvas signed L. Bonamici
Located in St. Albans, GB
Louis Bonamici
French 1878 - 1966
Oil painting on canvas signed L. Bonamici
Canvas Size: 20 x 29" (51 x 74cm)
Outside Frame Size: 28 x 37" (71 x 94cm)
...
Category
Early 20th Century Post-Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Materials
Oil
$3,176 Sale Price
20% Off
Sailing Boats in Harbor (Possibly Mohnegan Island, Maine)
By Paul Bernard King
Located in Rancho Santa Fe, CA
Mounted in a period, hand carved, gold leaf frame.
Signed lower right "Paul King"
Category
Early 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Paintings
Materials
Oil, Masonite
Early 20th Century Harbor Scene Seascape/Landscape Painting
By Abel Warshawsky
Located in Beachwood, OH
Abel Warshawsky, American (1883-1962)
Harbor Scene
Oil on Canvas
Signed lower right
13 x 16.25 canvas
17 x 20 inches framed
Early 20th Century Harbor Scene Seascape/Landscape Pain...
Category
Early 20th Century American Impressionist Figurative Paintings
Materials
Oil
