Big Sur Coast Landscape in Watercolor on Paper by Paul Dougherty

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Big Sur Coast Landscape in Watercolor on Paper

Serene coastal landscape by notable artist Paul Dougherty (American, 1877-1947). The viewer … Read more Big Sur Coast Landscape in Watercolor on Paper

Serene coastal landscape by notable artist Paul Dougherty (American, 1877-1947). The viewer looks out over the ocean, along the coastline. There are large, sloping cliffs leading from yellow-green tops through tan sides down to the ocean. Dougherty has used negative space to imply foamy or reflective areas of the ocean. In the far distance, there are slightly blurry mountains on the horizon.

Signed "Dougherty" in pencil, the lower right corner.
From the Estate of the artist (Lisa Dougherty Coon, daughter of the artist)
Presented in an off-white mat.
Mat size: 20.75"H x 26.5"W
Paper size: 14"H x 20"W

Paul Dougherty (American, 1877-1947) was born in Brooklyn, New York, and became a widely known painter of dramatic marine scenes and desert landscapes. Following his father who was an attorney, he graduated from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute in 1896 and New York Law School in 1898. He passed the bar but changed professions to art and studied with Robert Henri and in Europe for five years from 1900 to 1905. Dougherty’s dramatic shore scenes were compared to those of Winslow Homer: “It is difficult, in speaking of a marine painter, to avoid the one towering American genius in the field; but there is no doubt that the mantle of Winslow Homer has fallen upon Paul Dougherty.” [ “The Marines of Paul Dougherty,” by Ameen Rihani, The International Studio, April 1921, p. LV]

Paul Dougherty then painted along the coast of Maine, and his paintings were compared to those of Winslow Homer. Of his success, John Sloan said: "Everything came to him; all his pictures sold, he won all the prizes. The rich delighted to honor him, and his wives were glamorous" (Falk). He spent the first half of his career based in the east, but he moved west in 1928 and eventually spent the summers in Carmel, California and the cooler winter months in the desert. Dougherty won almost every major award at the annual exhibitions of the National Academy of Design in New York, as well as a Gold Medal at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.

In 1907, he was elected a Member to the National Academy of Design in New York. He experimented with sculpture but settled on marine paintings, primarily focused on the ocean. Arthritis forced him to seek a milder climate, and in 1928, he began spending his winters in Arizona where he painted desert landscapes and mountains. In 1931, he moved to the Monterey Peninsula in California.

His work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Joslyn Museum in Omaha; and the Fort Worth Museum in Texas as well as many other museums.

Memberships and affiliations:
National Academy of Design, New York, New York
National Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, New York
National Arts Club, New York, New York
Society of American Artists, New York
American Watercolor Society, New York
Bohemian Club, San Francisco, California
Lotos Club, New York, New York
Salmugundi Club, New York, New York

Awards and honors:
Gold Medal, Panama–Pacific International Exposition (1915)
Altman Prize, National Academy of Design, 93rd Annual Exhibition (1918) (Won with "Bottalac Cove")
Inness Gold Medal, National Academy of Design (1913)
Carnegie Prize, National Academy of Design (1915)
Palmer Memorial Prize, National Academy of Design (1941)
Silver Medal, 18th Annual Carnegie International Exhibition (1914) See less