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Whaler off the Vineyard--Outward Bound by William Bradford / American Art
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Whaler off the Vineyard--Outward Bound

1859 William Bradford Born: Fairhaven, Massachusetts 1823 Died: New York, New York 1892 oil on fiberboard 16 x 24 in. (40.7 x 61.0 cm) Smithsonian American Art Museum Museum purchase 1978.72 Smithsonian American Art Museum
3rd Floor, Luce Foundation Center



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Whaler off the Vineyard--Outward Bound



William Bradford is best known for his paintings of the Arctic, but his early work focused on the ships of New England. He grew up near New Bedford, Massachusetts, which was home to a successful whaling industry. In this image, he painted a large whaling ship with a smaller schooner sailing in the foreground, and the cliffs of Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard, in the background. This area was the standard route for whalers entering and leaving the port of New Bedford. Bradford emphasized the smallest details in this sweeping seascape, from the ripples in the sails to the suspenders on the sailors.

For more information about this work visit the Luce Foundation Center.


Keywords

Architecture - boat - sailing ship

Landscape - Massachusetts - Martha's Vineyard

Occupation - industry - fishing

Travel - water - boat

Waterscape - sea - Atlantic Ocean

painting

paint - oil

fiberboard

About William Bradford

Born: Fairhaven, Massachusetts 1823 Died: New York, New York 1892

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William Bradford

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