Beach Umbrellas at Blue Point

William Glackens, Beach Umbrellas at Blue Point, ca. 1915, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ira Glackens, 1968.1
Copied William Glackens, Beach Umbrellas at Blue Point, ca. 1915, oil on canvas, 26 x 32 in. (66.1 x 81.3 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ira Glackens, 1968.1
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Beach Umbrellas at Blue Point
Artist
Date
ca. 1915
Location
Dimensions
26 x 32 in. (66.1 x 81.3 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ira Glackens
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group
  • Landscape — beach
  • Dress — accessory — umbrella
  • Recreation — sport and play — swimming
  • Landscape — United States — Blue Point
  • Architecture Exterior — commercial — hotel
Object Number
1968.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1968.1

Artwork Description

William Glackens rejected the elegant Gilded age painting style shown in the country's art academies in favor of street scenes filled with regular people -- immigrants on the Lower East Side, "modern" young women strolling in the city's parks, and sun worshippers enjoying a day at the beach.

His paintings, and those of his friends in the so-called "Ashcan School," asserted the centrality of ordinary Americans in the early years of the twentieth century. Paintings by these artists provided a model for the thousands of scenes of American life created for the PWAP, the WPA, and other New Deal art programs.