Willard Leroy Metcalf: “on The Beach At Long Island” (1902)

Here is a description of the pastel titled On the Beach at Long Island, created in 1902 by the American Impressionist painter Willard Leroy Metcalf. 

This dynamic composition is virtually identical to an oil painting by another famous American Impressionist, William Merritt Chase, titled By the Sea (circa 1892).

The work depicts women and children relaxing under brightly colored parasols on the Long Island coast.

This piece is executed in pastel on cardboard.

This creative dialogue between Metcalf and Chase is a perfect example of how American Impressionists reinterpreted the ideas of their French counterparts and shared their own artistic discoveries.

Like Chase, Metcalf was a member of the famous group known as “The Ten” (The Ten American Painters). This pastel, created in 1902—ten years after Chase’s oil painting—represents a unique exploration of the possibilities offered by another medium: pastel.

The figures in it are far more numerous than in Chase’s original painting.

Thanks to this technique, Metcalf achieves a completely different texture, with a velvety finish. The sand appears drier and softer, while the clouds seem more ethereal. The pastel chalks allowed the artist to render the matte, diffused glow of a summer day with greater precision.

These repetitions of subjects were a common phenomenon among the Impressionists, allowing artists to compete in terms of skill and technical mastery.

The painting is signed and dated “W. L. METCALF. 1902” in the lower left corner.