Fisherman in rowing boat 1903

A fisherman in Dutch costume is standing in a rowboat. The fisherman is dressed in a traditional costume: wide brown baggy pants, light brown sweater, a black scarf around his neck, a brown fur or felt cap on his head, and he is holding an oar with both hands. The scenery is a canal, lined with small cottages, on the canal bank a toilet house and clothes poles on which laundry hangs to dry.

JQAW# G_1903_040
Oil on canvas 50 x 62 cm
Signature: John Q. Ɑdams 903 Volendam.
Private collection the Netherlands.

This Dutch genre painting depicts an everyday scene from Volendam, where Adams spent many summers. A fisherman in traditional costume stands in a rowboat, ready to leave the fishing village of Volendam to pursue his work. What is remarkable about this painting is its strong impressionist influence: the light is dominated by the gray skies of Holland, and the reflections of light on the surface of the water reflect the pastel colors of the fishermen's cottages and linens. The color scale is dominated by grays and pastels, which strongly deviates from the dark Rembrandesque colors and accentuated contours Adams usually used in his Volendam paintings.

The painting illustrates the mutual artistic cross-fertilization Adams experienced in the Volendam artists' colony from Impressionist colleagues in France and Holland. The painting was probably exhibited in the Vienna Künstlerhaus, but a clear attribution is not possible. The path to the current owner in the Netherlands is not traceable.

Cross-references

Exhibited

1903 Künstlerhaus Vienna? (EL 46 1903 #2615. referenced as canal study Holland, attribution uncertain).

Literature

Provenance

Unknown.
1995 Auction Danneberg Berin 25.3.1995 lot 591.
1996 Auction Christies Amsterdam
3.9. 1996 lot 204.
Private collection, the Netherlands.