Drawing, Coast of Grand Manan Island, Canada

Frederic Edwin Church

1851–52

oil and graphite on carboard

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Landscape sketch showing a view of precipitous cliffs on the coast of Grand Manan Island in Canada, likely near Southwest Head. In the foreground, a rocky and driftwood-strewn beach curves from the lower left corner into the middle distance at right. At left, calm sea water comprises the foreground and middle distance, where a small boat hosting a figure and what appears to be a dog is visible. At right, dark and extremely abrupt cliffs rise almost vertically out of the rocky coastline and extend out of frame at right, as their tops are covered in trees. The sky above is mostly inhabited by bands of low, puffy clouds that reveal a p