Moonlit Beach Scene
Samuel Colman American
Not on view
The multitalented Samuel Colman was a noted American landscape painter, interior designer, and artistic partner of Louis Comfort Tiffany. The ambitious and atmospheric Moonlit Beach Scene, created in 1917 when Colman was 85 years old, is an interesting example of his late work, notable for his bold use of pastel on black paper to evoke the glowing night sky and shimmering water.
The pastel is housed in an Aesthetic Movement-style gilded frame decorated with Orientalist motifs that are suggestive of Tiffany and Colman’s interior-design schemes. The pastel and frame form a complete decorative ensemble that represents Colman’s artistic interests, his important relationship with Tiffany, and their mutual approach to creating Aesthetic interiors inspired by eclectic cosmopolitan sources.
