
From the Deck of the San Juan: A Double-Sided Work
1890
This intimate oil on board by Elizabeth R. Coffin captures a vivid scene of figures aboard a small sailing vessel, observed from the deck of the San Juan during her travels, rendered with vigorous, impressionistic brushwork against luminous turquoise waters. The boldness of the palette—deep teals, whites, and punctuating reds—demonstrates Coffin's confident plein air technique and her keen ethnographic eye, characteristic of the adventurous spirit that also informed her celebrated depictions of Native American subjects. As a double-sided work dating to 1890, this piece offers rare insight into the artist's working process while abroad, making it a particularly desirable acquisition for collectors of late nineteenth-century American women artists and Orientalist-adjacent travel painting. Presented in a period-appropriate gilt frame, it retains the character and provenance appeal suited to a distinguished collection.
- Medium
- Oil on board
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