The Sea at Villerville

Homer Dodge Martin, artist

1836–1897

The Sea at Villerville, 1885

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: oil; canvas

Credit line: William Bridges Thayer Memorial

Accession number: 1928.1784

Not on display

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Brosseau Center for Learning: Disability Visibility: In Conversation with the 2022–2023 KU Common Book

In his 20s, Martin was rejected for Civil War service due to vision impairment. He developed cataracts and suffered from optic nerve disease by his 40s. The muted, brownish palette of this seaside view, completed at age 49, might be indicative of the ways these impairments affected Martin’s sight.

Civic Leader and Art Collector: Sallie Casey Thayer and an Art Museum for KU

Best known for his Adirondack wilderness scenes of Lake George and Lake Ontario in upstate New York, Homer Dodge Martin also spent four years in France, particularly working along the Normandy coast. Painted in 1885, a year before his return to the United States, this sparse seascape with its muddy palette of browns, whites, and blues renders the textures and light of sea and sand.
During a 1913 trip to New York, Sallie Casey Thayer purchased this painting at Macbeth Gallery along with works by John Francis Murphy, Robert Henri, Winslow Homer, and John La Farge. While her painting collection is small in comparison to the many other types of artwork she acquired, she also sought to develop a core collection of works by contemporary American artists. Many of these artists demonstrate connections with artistic practices and training in the United States and Europe, particularly France, which was a popular destination for American painters and collectors.