Ocean Grove, New Jersey

Artist Augustus Kollner

Period1877

MediumWatercolor on paper

Dimensions9.25 × 13.25 in. (23.5 × 33.7 cm)

InscribedInscribed lower left, "Ocean Grove, / New Jersey." Inscribed lower center, "28th June 1877."

MarkingsWatermarked, "J Whatman / Turkey Mill / 1874."

SignedSigned lower right, "A Kollner."

ClassificationsLandscapes & Still Life

Credit LineMarshall P. Blankarn Purchasing Fund, 1981

Object number1981.1.23

DescriptionA colorful, animated view of a long, narrow pond or lake with high banks. Many rowboats are in use, or drawn up on the shore. Three small boats have cloth canopies. At least two sailboats appear in the distance. A dirt roadway paralleled by a path follows the near shore. A passenger wagon filled with people in the lower right is drawn by two horses, while a carriage in the center headed in the opposite direction is drawn by a single horse. A tree stump occupies the center foreground, with a grove of trees beyond on the left. An arched bridge over a small stream and part of a fence are also part of the near shore landscape. People are seen walking along the pathway and road, while another person readies a boat. The far shore also has a pathway along its crest, while two story houses surrounded by trees have been built close to it. There is a suggestion of a sunset sky along the horizon.
Curatorial RemarksAugustus Theodore Frederick Adam Kollner (1812 - 1906) was a German-born artist who immigrated to the United States in 1839. A prolific lithographer, engraver and landscape painter in watercolors, his most famous work was titled "Views of American Cities." He produced a hundred drawings while traveling in North America, fifty-four of which were issued under that title as lithographs between 1848 and 1851. Despite advancing age, Kollner continued to make sketches while on his travels and into his retirement from commercial business by the 1880s.NotesThe watercolor is titled "Ocean Grove, New Jersey." However, the view was taken from the Asbury Park side of Wesley Lake looking east toward the sea with Ocean Grove depicted on the opposite shore. Augustus Kollner visited the emerging seaside resort area during a time of considerable growth for both communities. The Asbury side of the lake still retained an open landscape in 1877. Within a few short years, this stretch of what evolved into Lake Avenue became totally built up.

Collections

ProvenanceEx-collection Edna M. Netter; purchased from Sheldon Silverstein, who was the auctioneer of her estate in 1981.