Sea Bright Beach

Artist Michel Jacobs

Periodca. 1940

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions19.6 × 23.75 in. (49.8 × 60.3 cm)

SignedSigned lower right, "Michel Jacobs"

ClassificationsMarine and Seascapes

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Theodore D. Parsons, 1981

Object number1981.20.3

DescriptionA lively beach scene looking south, with the remains of an old boardwalk in the foreground. Colorful umbrellas dot the sandy part of the beach, with people standing, sitting, and laying around them. A lifeguard stand appears in the center middle distance, with a lifeguard seated on it and two surfboards leaning against its back. A large number of people are shown in the water, in a cove formed by a rock retaining wall. Five pound fishing boats have been drawn up on the sand beside a fishing shack with equipment staged around it. In the distance, a large two-story house fronts on the ocean.
Curatorial RemarksThe donor identified this scene as the beach in Sea Bright, Monmouth County. Michel Jacobs (1877 - 1958), the Canadian-born artist, first lived and taught in New York City. In 1939, he designed and built a house with a large, well lit studio in Rumson, Monmouth County, where he resided until his death.NotesThis scene combines Sea Bright's popularity as a beach destination with a local industry called pound fishing. Pound fishing began in Sea Bright, Monmouth County, in 1875, and lasted until World War II. Pound fishermen used what were called Sea Bright Skiffs, some of which were up to thirty feet or more long. A group of these distinctive boats appears in the right middle distance, beached next to a fisherman's shack.

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