Entrance to Harbor—Moonlight

David Johnson Kennedy

1881 · Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pastel, and sgraffito on white wove paper coated with gray gouache · The American Wing

This picture was made at a time when highly finished drawings in black and white had begun to appeal to connoisseurs. Kennedy essentially rendered this image in pencil on the gray gouache ground covering the paper. He then produced highlights by scratching the ground to reveal the white paper beneath, producing the glow of the moon, the luminous filigree of clouds, the watery reflections and foamy surf, and the glints of light on sails, a lighthouse, and coastal rocks. The richness of the virtually monochromatic image is undoubtedly enhanced by nearly invisible small touches of orange and green pastel, applied on the foreground sand and the lapping water.

Artist

David Johnson Kennedy

Date

1881

Medium

Watercolor, gouache, graphite, pastel, and sgraffito on white wove paper coated with gray gouache

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1968