Edward Henry Potthast (1857–1927)

EDWARD HENRY POTTHAST (1857–1927)
Bathers at Breakwater, c. 1920–27
Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in.
Signed (at lower right): E. Potthast

RECORDED: Richard J. Boyle, American Impressionism (Boston, Massachusetts: New York Graphic Society, 1974), p. 101 illus. in color // edwardhenrypotthast.org, as “Bathers by the Shore,” bottom right p. 6 illus in color

EXHIBITED: Chapellier Galleries, New York. 1969, Edward Henry Potthast: 1857–1927, no 28 illus. in color // Chapellier Galleries, New York, 1973, American Art Selections, Vol. 3, no. 33

EX COLL.: [Chapellier Galleries, New York, 1969–73]; Mr. and Mrs. Jack Kartee, Long Island, New York, by 1974; Roy J. Carver, Iowa, until 1981; to his estate; to sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., New York, December 10, 1981, no. 71 illus. in color as “Bathers by the Sea”; sale, Christie’s New York, November 30, 1990, as “Bathers at Breakwater”; sale, Christie’s New York, May 26, 1993, as “Bathers at Breakwater”; [Adelson Galleries, New York] by 1996; to private collection, until the present

We have little documentation of Potthast’s oeuvre. While some of his paintings were named, most bear generic descriptive titles. He rarely dated his works. The location of Bathing at Breakwater remains unknown. The dating is approximate based on bathing outfit styles, which became progressively less bulky in the post-World War I years and into the 1920s. 

Bathers at Breakwater will be included in the forthcoming Potthast catalogue raisonné, in process at the Mary Ran Gallery, Cincinnati.