Art Institute of Chicago

Near Newport

John Frederick Kensett

Date

1869

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

Newport

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

In this late work, John Frederick Kensett portrayed the Rhode Island coast with spare, yet meticulous forms suffused with light and quietude. A solitary female figure seated at right almost goes unnoticed amid the long, horizontal bands of earth and water. It is the expansive sky that dominates the composition, suggestive of a spiritual force in nature. Kensett, who first trained as an engraver, applied draftsman’s precision to his paintings of the American landscape. Near Newport hints at the tourist activities that would come to define the town in the late 19th century, with couples walking along the distant shore and bathing tents dotting the horizon.

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