Art Institute of Chicago

A Holiday

Edward Henry Potthast (American, 1857–1927)

Date

c. 1915

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

United States

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

A Holiday depicts one of the beach scenes for which Edward Henry Potthast was best known. Capturing a quintessentially Impressionist setting—a sun-dappled landscape with women and children enjoying leisure time—the artist also utilized the movement’s technique of broken brushwork and the use of brilliant colors. In the painting the children converse and frolic at the water’s edge on a windy day. There is nothing threatening about the waves or wind; indeed, Potthast’s paintings were both praised and criticized for presenting nothing other than a pleasant, innocent, and optimistic view.

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