Selsey Shore

When Alfred Pope purchased this painting in 1894, he simultaneously purchased a second work of the same scene, crafted in a portrait orientation, titled The Beach at Selsey Bill (now at the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, CT, USA). The two oil sketches are often confused with one another, because the various catalogues of Whistler’s work use a variety of interchangeable names and descriptions for them. The subject of both paintings is Selsey “bill,” a beak-like projection of land jutting out into the English Channel on the south coast of England, east of the Isle of Wight. Whistler was known to have visited Selsey when staying with Charles A. Howell, a promoter and collector of Whistler’s art. The Popes met Mr. and Mrs. Whistler while on a trip to England and Europe in 1894. Hill-Stead’s archives include correspondence between Whistler and Pope that reveals the depth of their friendship and mutual regard. Hill-Stead’s collection includes over 20 works by Whistler, both paintings and prints.