Philip Wilson Steer (1860-1942), Southampton Harbor (1921)
“He simply felt that if he could carry away the vision of the spot of earth she walked on, and the way the sky and sea enclosed it, the rest of the world might seem less empty.” – The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton
Philip Wilson Steer, a well-known British painter of landscapes and portraits, was a leading figure in the British Impressionist movement. While he moved away from his Impressionism style around the 1890s, this particular seascape is reminiscent of Claude Monet, a French Impressionist by whom Steer was greatly influenced. The merging colors and open composition in the painting are tell-tale signs that Impressionism still had some influence on his work. Steer was able to capture the hopeful yet uncertain mood of the time surrounding the end of the First World War and the beginning of the Roaring Twenties.
