Seascapes: Fairfield Porter

Fairfield Porter (American, 1907-1975) grew up in an intellectual household, and attended both Harvard and the Art Students' League. He became a well-respected art critic, but had to learn to set aside his educational background in order to paint freely and expressively.

Porter's family had a home on Great Spruce Head Island, Maine, where he painted many seascapes.

Surf on Windy Day oil on paper mounted on board 10¾" x 14" 1974

A Sudden Change of Wind 

Calm Morning 1961

Wild Roses oil on canvas 24"x 28" 1961

Low Tide 1962

View from Bear Island oil on panel 14"x15" 1968

Ocean, State I  color lithograph 1973

"The right use of color can make any composition work."

"Order seems to come from searching for disorder, and awkwardness from searching for harmony or likeness, or the following of a system. The truest order is what you already find there, or that will be given if you don't try for it. When you arrange, you fail."

"When I paint, I think that what would satisfy me is to express what Bonnard said Renoir told him: make everything more beautiful."- Fairfield Porter