En route pour la pêche (Setting Out to Fish)

1878

John Singer Sargent

Associated Names
John Singer Sargent

Painter, American, 1856 - 1925

Four women and two children, all with pale skin, carry baskets as they walk along a beach under a brilliant blue sky in this horizontal painting. The scene is painted with visible dabs and blended strokes. The women all wear long-sleeved shirts, calf-length skirts and aprons, head coverings, and gray clogs. The group walks to our left, amid shallow pools that reflect the topaz-blue sky. At the front of the group, to our left, a young woman wears a white kerchief tied at the back of her neck, under her blond hair. She wears a navy-blue shirt and a gray skirt, and she carries a shallow, woven, straw basket against her left hip, closer to us. On her other side, a barefoot child walks beside her. The child wears a white, long-sleeved shirt tucked into tan-colored shorts and a wide-brimmed, golden yellow hat. He holds a basket at the small of his back. To our right, near the center of the composition, a pair of women walk with their heads tipped toward each other. The woman closer to us has bright, copper-blond hair under a white bonnet tied under her chin. A black shawl crosses over her white shirt, and black coverings are pulled up over the forearms of her white shirt. Her beige apron mostly obscures her crimson-red skirt. Wearing dark stockings, she is the only woman whose shins are not bare. The woman next to her, farther from us, wears a dark gray head covering and skirt, and a navy-blue shirt. The chin straps on the bonnets of both of these women flutter in the breeze. Behind that pair, to our right, and older woman also wears a black shawl and sleeve protectors over a white shirt. Her apron is aquamarine blue and she lifts it over a brown skirt. She has stopped to gaze down at the second child, standing next to her. Sunlight sets the child’s blond hair aglow as he reaches down to tug at the leg of his dark gray shorts. He wears a teal-blue, long-sleeved shirt and is also barefoot. Touches of white paint on the beach around the group makes the sand seem to shimmer. More people approach the beach from the upper right corner, where the dune leads back to a lighthouse. The structure is a hazy, slate-gray silhouette against the bright white clouds in the vivid blue sky above. The beach slopes down to our left into the distance, where sailboats and people are suggested with a few swipes of paint. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower right corner, “John S. Sargent. Paris 1878.”

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The stakes were high for John Singer Sargent in 1878. For his second time exhibiting at the prestigious Paris Salon, the 22-year-old artist needed a painting that would attract attention. In keeping with the popular theme of peasant life, he submitted this seaside scene set in Brittany, France.

Women and children set out to gather fish from tidepools. Other villagers descend the slipway from the distant lighthouse. Sargent’s deft brushwork and treatment of light suggest spontaneity. Anticipating severe criticism from the Salon jury, he made many preparatory studies on site before completing the work in Paris. The jury accepted the painting, which found a buyer before the exhibition closed.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery M70

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Admiral Augustus Ludlow Case to Daniel Rogers Case, 1893; 1917 to The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1878

  • Salon de 1878: 95e Exposition Officielle, Palais des Champs Elysées, Paris, 1878, no. 2008.

1903

  • The Thirteenth Annual Exhibition of the Society of Washington Artists, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1903, unnumbered catalogue.

1925

  • Memorial Exhibition of the Works of the Late John Singer Sargent, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1925, no. 14, as Oyster Gatherers of Cancale.

1936

  • The main Currents in the Development of American Painting, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1936, no. 88, as The Oyster Gatherers.

1952

  • Sea and Shore, Norton Gallery and School of Art, West Palm Beach, 1952, no catalogue.

1954

  • Sargent, Whistler and Mary Cassatt, Art Institute of Chicago; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1954, no. 40, as Oyster Gatherers of Cancale.

1959

  • Loan Exhibition. Masterpieces of the Corcoran Gallery of Art: A Benefit Exhibition in Honor of the Gallery's Centenary, Wildenstein, New York, 1959, unnumbered catalogue, repro., as The Oyster Gatherers of Cancale.

1964

  • The Private World of John Singer Sargent, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Cleveland Museum of Art; Worcester Art Museum; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, 1964-1965, no 4, as The Oyster Gatherers of Cancale.

1966

  • Past and Present: 250 Years of American Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1966, unpublished checklist.

1968

  • From El Greco to Pollock: Eaerly and Late Works by European and American Artists, Baltimore Museum of Art, 1968, no. 83, as The Oyster Gatherers of Cancale.

1976

  • Corcoran [The American Genius]. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1976, unnumbered catalogue.

1982

  • Americans in Britanny and Normandy, 1860-1910, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth; Phoenix Art Museum, National Museum of American Art, Washington, 1982-1983, no. 12, as The Oyster Gatherers at Cancale.

1986

  • John Singer Sargent, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago, 1986-1987, unnumbered catalogue, as The Oyster Gatherers at Cancale.

1992

  • Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865-1915, Musée Américain, Giverny, 1992, no. 56, as Oyster Gatherers of Cancale.

1997

  • Uncanny Spectacle: The Public Career of the Young John Singer Sargent, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, 1997, no 3, as Oyster Gatherers of Cancale.

1998

  • John Singer Sargent, Tate Britain, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1998-1999, no. 2.

  • John Singer Sargent, Tate Gallery, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1998-1999, no. 2, as Oyster Gatherers of Cancale.

2003

  • The Impressionist Tradition in America, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2003-2004, unpublished checklist, as The Oyster Gatherers of Cancale (En route pour la pêche).

2005

  • Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 2005-2007, checklist no. 43 (shown in Washington only).

2007

  • Impressionists by the Sea, Royal Academy of Arts, London; Phillips Collection, Washington; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum, Hartford, 2007-2008, no. 46, as Oyster Gatherers of Cancale.

2008

  • The American Evolution: A History through Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, unpublished checklist.

2009

  • Sargent and the Sea, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2009-2010, unnumbered catalogue.

2013

  • American Journeys: Visions of Place, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 21 September 2013-28 September 2014, unpublished checklist.

Bibliography

1947

  • Corcoran Gallery of Art. Handbook of the American Paintings in the Collection of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1947: 62.

1959

  • Corcoran Gallery of Art. Masterpieces of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Washington, 1959: 59, repro.

1998

  • Kilmurray, Elaine, and Richard Ormond, eds. John Singer Sargent. Exh. cat. Tate Britain, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Princeton, 1998; Washington, 1999: no. 2, repro.

  • Ormond, Richard, and Elaine Kilmurray. John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1874-1882. The Complete Paintings, Volume IV. New Haven and London, 2006: no. 670, repro.

2011

  • Cash, Sarah. "John Singer Sargent, En route pour la pêche (Setting Out to Fish). In Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Edited by Sarah Cash. Washington, 2011: 31-32, 36, 37, 142-143, 268, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: JOHN S. SARGENT. / PARIS 1878

Wikidata ID

Q20188839

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