The Iconography of the Boat in 19th-Century American Painting

The Iconography of the Boat in 19th-Century American PaintingAuthor(s): Gerald EagerSource: Art Journal, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Spring, 1976), pp. 224-230Published by: College Art AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/775940 .

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The Iconography of the Boat in

19th-Century American Painting

GERALD EAGER

John Wilmerding has shown how strong the tradition of marine painting is in American art, and he has made it clear that marine painting in America is largely a story of the 19th century.' From John Singleton Copley and Washington Alls- ton at the beginning of the century to Winslow Homer and Albert Pinkham Ryder at the end, many American painters (such as Robert Salmon and Fitz Hugh Lane) specialized in marine subjects, and many more (like William Sidney Mount and George Caleb Bingham) paid special, if occasional, attention to the sea, the river, or the shore in their work. The specific type of locale depicted in American marine painting shifted during the 19th century-sometimes the open sea was shown, or the harbor or coastline, and sometimes an inland waterway, or the riverbank, or lake front. But whatever area was depicted, one image is found in nearly all 19th- century American marine paintings-that is, the image of the boat.

The importance in Romantic painting of two types of boat images-the boat that has been wrecked and the boat caught up in a storm-has been described by T. S. R. Boase and Lorenz Eitner.2 The drama of these subjects made them ide- ally suited to express the passionate beliefs about man and nature held by the Romantic artist. But though the wreck and the storm are ever-present dangers in water travel (and cer- tainly even more present in the 19th century when develop- ments in ship construction, navigation, and weather report- ing were hardly in proportion to the length of the voyages made) they are, nevertheless, the unexpected and unusual occurrences in a journey. The expectation was that the boat would be a safe, effective vehicle for transportation, work, or pleasure. The routine functioning of the boat, of course, does not contain the intense dramatic interest of the wrecked boat or the storm-tossed boat, but the Romantic artist had his moods of introspection and optimism as well as his moments of anguish and fatalism. The boat that is under control, accomplishing its intended purpose, was a useful image for expressing more reserved feelings about man and nature

held by the Romantic artist, and the normally functioning boat also must be considered a significant element in the iconography of Romanticism.3

In describing the Romantic fascination for the shipwreck and the storm at sea, T. S. R. Boase has noted an important difference between these dramatic subjects. That is, the wreck emphasizes the plight of the occupants, while the storm emphasizes the terribleness of the elements-the first is essentially a close-up version of the second.4 In treating the image of the boat that is under control, the Romantic artist also can choose either a close-up or a distant view, stressing either the peacefulness of the boat's occupants or the tranquility of the natural elements. So the full extent of the Romantic artists' involvement with the image of the boat may be summarized as follows:

BOAT OUT OF CONTROL

CLOSE-UP VIEW ........... DISTANT VIEW (occupants) . (elements)

BOAT UNDER CONTROL

The broad range of the image of the boat,makes it of special, and perhaps unique, value among the elements in the iconography of Romanticism, especially as it attracted a great many Romantic painters of diverse outlooks over a long period of time. The image of the boat provides an overview of 19th-century Romanticism, including a look at opposing strains within the Romantic movement.5 Moreover, individual paintings which employ the image of the boat take on a more complete meaning when examined in the context of the full range of that imagery. This essay first will chart the main points in the iconography of the boat in 19th-century American painting, and then, viewed against that background, will look for added meaning in the work of Winslow Homer and Albert Pinkham Ryder.

ART JOURNAL, XXXV/3 224



Fig. 1. John Singleton Copley, Scene of Shipwreck, c. 1790.

In the 1790s, John Singleton Copley painted Scene of Ship- wreck (Fig. 1). This is one of three scenes of disaster at sea

painted by Copley, and it exhibits many striking similarities to Gericault's Raft of Medusa.6 Similarities are to be found not only in the individual figures and general composition, but also in the mood and ideas evoked. This painting shows the boat out of control and focuses attention on the occupants. Several survivors are seen clinging to the wreckage of a boat. At the left, a man reaches for a hand which seems to be

sinking into the sea, while above another figure looks help- lessly on and a third figure stares beseechingly toward the sky. Toward the center, an unconscious woman, apparently just pulled from the water, is held by a man. At the center, a black supports a woman who makes a frantic gesture toward a drowned man at the right. Above him, a man sits astride the

broken mast, to which another man clings, signaling a rescue ship that approaches from the background, and casting a hopeful glance back to the others. The people are linked by the suffering they share, and in the aid they give one another. The strong help the weak and the low in station help the high. And the spiritual closeness of the figures is reinforced by the knotted compositional scheme that they combine to form.

In 1804, Washington Allston painted Rising of a Thunder- storm at Sea (Fig. 2). Like Copley's painting, Allston's represents a struggle, of the elements rather than the occupants. The sea and the sky, not the people, dominate the work. Near the center of the expanse a small single-masted boat is poised on the crest of a huge boiling wave, while in the left background a large three-masted ship rides out the storm. There is a sharp contrast between the relative safety of the distant ship and the plight of the smaller boat, a contrast that is sharpened by the greater turmoil of the sea around the small boat. While the course of the large boat is quite steady and secure, the fate of the small one is precariously bal- anced. The surging action of the wave has lifted the boat so that the rudder is almost completely out of the water. At the same time the wind has billowed the sails to near bursting. In the boat figures can be seen struggling with the lines, but the precise individual reactions of the occupants cannot be ob- served from the distance at which they are portrayed. Man's qualities are submerged by the threat, rather than emerging out of it, as in the work by Copley. The viewer is left with the impression of an awesome eschatological force that engulfs personal action.

In The Raft (Fig. 3) painted in 1830, Thomas Doughty pre- sents a very different aspect of the boat. Here the sense of

Fig. 2. Washington Allston, Rising of a Thunderstorm at Sea, 1804.

SPRING 1976 225



Fig. 3. Thomas Doughty, The Raft, 1830.

struggle is completely absent as the erupting force of nature has calmed and quieted. A sheltered river replaces the open sea, and the tempest is turned into a tranquil scene. From the

right, the raft heads down the river, where as far as the eye can see nothing appears that would threaten its safety. The occupants have no difficulty keeping the raft on course-the smoothness of the water demands only the most matter-of- fact response from them. The raft is seen from a distance, and so the quiet magnificence of the surroundings dominates, enveloping the occupants in a cathedral-like atmos-

phere. A similar serenity is found in William S. Mount's Eel Spear-

ing on the Setauket (Fig. 4), painted in 1845. The spearing is done in an inlet, sheltered from the outbursts of the open sea. But in Mount's painting, the spirit of the elements is

subordinate to that of the occupants of the boat. Like Copley, Mount focuses attention on the reactions of the individuals to the situation that involves them. But the reaction here is not an agonizing struggle for survival, for this is not a life- and-death experience. Like Doughty's figures in The Raft, Mount's have full control over the boat and so are able to exhibit a certain detachment from the elements themselves. Also, like Doughty's work, where the figures are lost in the vast tranquility of the scene, the figures in the Mount work are lost to the task at hand. The boy in the stern concentrates on keeping the boat steady, while the black woman in the bow, poised to spear, focuses all her attention on the job she is doing. Although both figures play an important part in the accomplishing of the task, each works alone. So unlike the Copley work, where the figures are closely linked by the experience they share, Mount's figures are separated by their experience. This separateness is seen not only in the different placement and position-one at the stern, the other in the bow, one seated, the other standing-but also in the different size, sex, age, and race of the figures. The absence of struggle in the task is further suggested by the presence of a puppy and a picnic basket in the boat, which add a carefree quality to the already tranquil atmosphere. The quiet of the scene seems to arouse an introspectiveness that inspires individuality, and the detachment that is seen in the figures is also felt in the background, in the slowly moving rowboat and moored sailboat, the figure drawing water from a well, people gathered around a barn and others standing in the fields. The world behind the boat, like the one in it, is a workaday world where the inhabitants, like the occupants, are immersed in routine, unhurried activities.

George Caleb Bingham's Fur Traders Descending the Mis- souri (Fig. 5) shows the same aspect of boat imagery as Mount's Eel Spearing on the Setauket. The two figures in

~~~~~~~~L~~~~~~

Fig. 4. William Sidney Mount, Eel Spearing on the Setauket, 1845.




Bingham's boat seem engrossed in their own thoughts. The beaming young man lounging on the load is perhaps visualiz- ing the time when he reaches market, the brooding old man guiding the boat from the stern is perhaps already planning the next trapping trip. The journey, and their thoughts, are interrupted only by the attention they give to the viewer as the boat moves slowly and evenly by. The passiveness of the figures is echoed by the placidness of the surroundings. But even when the occupants of Bingham's boats are more ac- tive, as in his Jolly Flatboatmen (Fig. 6) the detached and introspective spirit remains. This work contains many figures, like Copley's, but here the taut, Early Renaissance composition restricts the figures' movement rather than underlining the movement as the Baroque composition does in Copley's painting. Also, the overt action is limited to a single dancing figure-the others sit or recline, some playing instruments, most looking on. The figures do not touch one another but seem to operate in independent orbits. Two of the figures are seated on the oars, which are up out of the water. The boat is drifting free, able to direct itself in the calm waters where the greatest danger is simply stopping.

By mid-century, then, American painters had utilized the full range of the iconography of the boat. They had depicted the wreck and the storm-the situations in which man has lost control over the destiny of the boat and struggles to regain it. Special emphasis was placed on the life and death experience of these situations by representing them when the final outcome of the struggle was still in doubt. In these scenes attention was either focused on the plight of the occupants, who are brought closer by the suffering, or on the power of the elements, which easily overcome man. Ameri- can painters also depicted situations in which man effort- lessly maintains control of the boat. The undemanding tranquility of these subjects is underlined by representing their most routine and uneventful aspects. Here, too, the scenes can be seen close up, focusing attention on the peacefulness

Fig. 5. George Caleb Bingham, Fur Traders Descending the Missouri, 1845.

of the occupants, kept separate by their introspectiveness, or can be viewed from a distance, calling attention to the serenity of the elements which readily envelop man. Early 19th- century American artists' interest in the boat may be summarized as follows:

BOAT OUT OF CONTROL

Copley Allston

CLOSE-UP VIEW .............. DISTANT VIEW

Bingham Mount Doughty

BOAT UNDER CONTROL

Fig. 6. George Caleb Bingham, Jolly Flatboatmen, 1848.

SPRING 1976 227



Although the four aspects of the image of the boat differ in their particular point of view about man and nature, they are similar in that these points of view are all extremes. Nature is either stormy or serene; man is either a victim or a willing volunteer. Either nature engulfs man or man dominates nature; the boat is a symbol either of sacrifice and death or salvation and deliverance. In a sense, each aspect represents an uncomplicated point of view which excludes the others. So although the full range of boat imagery had been em-

ployed by American artists by 1850, it had not been fully explored by them by that time. The limits had been set, but the area within those limits had not been developed. This middle area of the range occupies the interest of those American artists of the second half of the century whose names are most readily associated with the iconography of the boat-Winslow Homer and Albert Pinkham Ryder.

In 1876, Winslow Homer painted Breezing Up (Fig. 7). In the left foreground a small sailboat moves briskly before a "fair wind," while in the background to the right a large sailing vessel moves steadily along. The inclusion of the two boats in the composition is reminiscent of Allston's Rising of a Thunderstorm at Sea, but though the boat is dependent on the elements here, it is not at their mercy. Nor is there the marked contrast between safety and danger shown in these two boats as there is in the boats of Allston's painting. The occupants are not insect-sized creatures who put up a fren- zied struggle against overwhelming odds. And though they must concentrate to keep the boat under control, their ef- forts are neither frantic nor futile. The boy seen sitting on the side of the boat recalls the boy in the stern of Mount's boat. However, here the boy cannot become absorbed entirely in himself, for as the tight grip on the gunnels mutely testifies, the elements do not permit total detachment. In this work, pleasure and pain are not placed in mutually exclusive positions, but are brought together in the mild sense of excite- ment, involving both enjoyment and danger, found in this situation.

In The Lifeline (Fig. 8, 1884) Homer depicts a scene of wreck and rescue as in Copley's Scene of Shipwreck. But unlike Copley's work, where the people steal the scene from the sea, Homer's figures share the interest with it. Far to the left are the tattered sails and loose riggings of the ship that has smashed onto the rocks and, to the right, the jagged outline of the shore. Stretched between these is the lifeline which supports two figures. The scene is not laid out in

stages before the viewer as in the Copley painting, but is condensed into a single situation. The suffering and heroics of Copley's work is lowered in tone from sacrifice to rescue operation. The facial expressions are not visible in Homer's illustration-the woman's expression is masked by uncon- sciousness and the man's is hidden by the scarf that blows in front of his face. Moreover, Homer does not seek to sharpen the drama of the situation by leaving it unresolved to the same degree that Copley does. The lifeline seems to be

accomplishing its purpose, and the absence of drowning or drowned figures diminishes the feeling of desperation which Copley has carefully developed. There is both drama and detachment in this scene, a dual sensation also created by the quality of space and distance with which Homer endows his painting. Homer positions the viewer apart from the scene. The viewer witnesses the rescue routine as he might through a telescope-he is brought close to the activity, but at the same time is kept a safe distance away.

Homer also juxtaposes tempest and tranquility in Gulf Stream (Fig. 9, 1899). The setting itself exhibits a curious combination of oppressiveness and benevolence. The threat of the sharks and of the water spout is softened a bit by the

beauty of the blue sea and warm sunshine. It is as though the elements from Allston's and Doughty's works are brought together in this painting by Homer. Although Homer chose a black figure for his main character as did Copley, his solitude here does not give Homer the same opportunity to make a

passionate plea for human equality. Moreover, Homer's sin-

gle figure does not struggle-he reclines on the deck, looking calmly at the sea with what could be the introspection of Bingham's fur traders.The life-and-death experience in this

Fig. 7. Winslow Homer, Breezing Up, 1876.




Fig. 8. Winslow Homer, The Lifeline, 1884.

Fig. 9. Winslow Homer, Gulf Stream, 1899.

painting is met with the matter-of-factness found in Mount's female eel-spearer as she goes about her routine task.

Homer tends not to show the boat as a toy-like object in a

huge expanse of sea or land, as did Allston or Doughty. Nor does he present an intimate view of the individual occupants of the boat as did Copley, Mount, or Bingham. Rather he divides interest equally between the elements and the occu-

pants. Also Homer's works do not present situations in which the boat or occupants are tossed wildly about, or in which

they keep to their course with little effort at all. Just as they spread attention between man and nature, they are concerned with the middle ground between tempest and tran-

quility, struggle and detachment. The middle ground in the

iconography of the boat is also found in the works of Albert Pinkham Ryder. But Ryder's work in this area exhibits an

important basic difference from that of Homer. While Homer

juxtaposes qualities from the extremes of the boat imagery, Ryder blends them. Homer's method is essentially that of

placing storminess next to sunniness, drama to detachment, but Ryder's method is basically that of avoiding altogether the use of qualities from the extremes of the imagery.

Before 1884, Ryder painted Toilers of the Sea (Fig. 10). A lone boat makes its way through waters that are neither

terribly rough nor very calm, under a moonlit sky that is neither totally threatening nor completely comforting. The boat is shown climbing to the top of a wave, not caught in its crest as is Allston's. But neither is it held securely in a steady current as are the rafts in Bingham's paintings. Ryder does not show the boat in a moment of climax or in an uninter-

rupted continuum, but between them both. The boat is not at the mercy of the environment, nor is the occupant (who is immersed in the murky atmosphere) able to dominate the

SPRING 1976 229

I-: :6:



Fig. 10. Albert Pinkham Ryder, Toilers of the Sea, 1884.

elements. Thus there is a mingling of man and nature instead of an emphasis on one or the other. The following poem accompanied the painting when it was exhibited in 1884:

'Neath the shifting skies O'er the billowy foam The hardy fisher flies To his island home.

The statement of a state of transition that has been noted in the painting is reinforced by the poem. The elements are not permanently stormy or sunny, but are shifting. The occupant is not now toiling or resting-he is neither fishing nor yet at home-but is between those conditions and these places.

The central images of Ryder's Jonah (c. 1885) are not Jonah and the whale, but the boat and the sea. As Ryder conceives the boat, it appears to bend under the force of the wind and the waves, giving up its shape to the sea, avoiding the brittle- ness that seems to seal the fate of the boat in Allston's Rising of a Thunderstorm at Sea. The occupants of the boat here do not struggle futilely as they do in the work by Allston, but assume fluid shapes mimicking those of the sea and sky. The figures in the boat are an audience to the ritualistic struggle of Jonah in the right foreground. Jonah's gesture of raised arms and his tipped position in the sea closely match the gesture and position of God the Father, who is looking down from the upper part of the painting. The similarities between the bearded figures of Jonah and God not only serve to re- mind the viewer of the ecstasy inherent in Jonah's suffering, they also call attention to the compressed quality of Ryder's treatment of space and depth. Unlike the work of Homer, where the feeling of distance is like that of a photograph taken with a telephoto lens, in which things are brought into focus while still kept at long range, Ryder's work gives a feeling of distance like that in a photographic negative in which the strong patterns of light and dark push the foreground back and pull the background forward.

The boat is a major element in the iconography of 19th-

century American painting, and perhaps a central reason for its importance is that the richness and range of boat imagery provided the opportunity for raising profound issues about Man and Nature and made it possible for artists of varied sensibilities to respond to those issues. Whatever questions the viewer might have about the fate of man, the character of the natural elements, and the relationship between the two, paintings of boats by 19th-century American artists provided an answer. Early 19th-century artists answer those questions with an unambiguous "yes" or "no"; Winslow Homer an- swers them with a provocative "yes" and "no"; Albert Pink- ham Ryder does so with an evocative "maybe." I

'John Wilmerding, A History of American Marine Painting, Salem, Mass., Peabody Museum of Salem, 1968. 2 T. S. R. Boase, "Shipwrecks in English Romantic Painting," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. XXir, 3-4, pp. 332 ff.; Lorenz Eitner "The Open Window and the Storm-tossed Boat: An Essay in the Iconography of Romanticism," Art Bulletin, XXXVII, 4, pp. 281 ff. 3 Kenneth Clark is concerned with an iconography of Romanticism, mention- ing such elements as witches, tortures, shipwrecks, assassinations. Kenneth Clark, The Romantic Rebellion: Romantic versus Classic Art, New York, 1973. 4 Boase, "Shipwrecks in English Romantic Painting," p. 336. In noting the different emphasis in these dramatic treatments of the boat imagery, Boase calls them the "victim" and the "tempest" types. The different emphasis in the more reserved treatments of the imagery discussed below might be called the "volunteer" and the "tranquil" types. 5 The symbolic character of the boat, that perhaps stems from its basic shape and function and may be related to its iconographical meaning, is discussed in Jacques Schnier, "The Symbol of the Ship in Art, Myth and Dream," Psychoanalytic Review, XXXVIII, 1, pp. 53 ff.; and Jacques Schnier "Art Symbol and the Unconscious," The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, XII, 1, pp. 67 ff. A more clinical discussion of the boat's symbolic character is presented in Lauretta Bender and William Q. Wolfson, "Nautical Themes in the Art and Fantasy of Children," American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, XIII, pp. 462 ff. 6 Benedict Nicholson, "The 'Raft' from the point of view of Subject Matter," Burlington Magazine, XCVI, pp. 241 ff. Gerald Eager is Associate Professor and Chairman of the Department of Art at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.




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The Iconography of the Boat in 19th-Century American Painting