Shore Scene with Beached Boat in Rough Water
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Research by Marie Riley
Painting described by Jean Holland |
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Acc No 97
Artist Susan Woodhouse Artist dates 1872-1948 Medium oil Size 51.6 x 76.2 cm (20.3 x 30 in) Date painted unknown Donor bequest of the artist 20 Cyprus Avenue, Lytham St Annes Date donated 29 November 1948 |
According to Stephen Sartin:
‘The bequest comprised 10 paintings of which this, by the donor, an amateur artist, must be one. The others, presumably also by Susan Woodhouse, are presently lost, having apparently been "loaned temporarily to the Children's Cottage Homes at Kirkham of the National Assistance Board" on 07.02.49. In 1968 they could not be traced.' (1) The Homes closed in 1957.
Inscribed on the reverse 'Copied by Mrs S Woodhouse at Art School, St Annes’. At that time there was no indication as to the original artist or where the scene was located. In June 2024 we were contacted by Debra Meiburg, who had seen the painting presented at auction by the artist 'Augustin Feyer 1886', although the signature did not seem to correspond. Further research by the Friends of the Lytham St Annes Art Collection has shown the artist to be the French painter, engraver and illustrator Francois Nicolas Augustin Feyer, known as Auguste Feyer-Perrin (1826-1888). He added his mother's maiden name to Feyer to help distinguish himself from his older brother, Jacques-Eugene Feyer, who was already an established artist when Auguste was fifteen.
The drama of the fiery sky in this oil painting by Susan Woodhouse immediately provokes a feeling of anxiety in the viewer. This is further developed by the dynamic line of the sail of the boat which is the focal point of the painting, and the artist’s skilful use of the splashes of bright red used on the boat from an otherwise limited palette of cobalt and sienna. The eye is led to this main boat by the activity of the men on the left pushing the rowing boat towards it, thus uniting the shallow and the deep plane of the distant horizon where more dynamic lines of sails appear.
Below the huge threatening sky of stormy billowing clouds, which covers two thirds of the picture, the boats and the pier loom in dramatic silhouette on a swirling sea where the free, brisk, lively energetic brushwork emphasises the storm in the scene.
ARTIST
Susan Woodhouse was born in 1872 in Newton Heath, Manchester, to Edward M Shepherd, a manufacturing chemist, and his wife, Susannah. The 1891 census describes Susan as a 'teacher of music'.
In 1898 she married William Henry Woodhouse from Ardwick, son of Simeon and Fanny Woodhouse. Simeon was a pawnbroker, as was William. The couple were still living in Manchester at the time of the 1901 census but by 1907 she was listed as living at 107 Warton Street in Lytham, although her husband, William, was not included at that address. By the 1911 census she was still resident there with William and a live-in domestic servant. The census revealed that prior to 1911 the couple had had two children who died in infancy.
Susan was widowed in 1918 at the age of 46. The probate record for William reveals that by then they were living at 20 Cyprus Avenue in Ansdell. She continued to live at Cyprus Avenue until she herself died on 24 October 1948, aged 77, in Lytham Hospital.
In 1946 Susan Woodhouse donated a large watercolour by Henry Rheam, The Long Day Wanes (1889), to the Collection. Rheam had links with the Newlyn School but Woodhouse, as Sartin noted, seems to have been an amateur artist who lived locally with no connection to Rheam or Newlyn.
In St Paul’s Church, Fairhaven, there is an altar rail dedicated to William and Susan inscribed:
'This altar rail is erected in the memory of William Henry Woodhouse and Susan, his wife, a true
and faithful worker for St Paul’s.'
REFERENCES
(1) http://www.lythamstannesartcollection.org/the-treasures.html
(2) Her birth is registered in the January – March Quarter of 1872 (registration district Manchester, Vol 8d, p 337). As there is a period of six weeks before a birth needs to be registered she could feasibly have been born in December 1871. The rest of the biographical information on Susan Woodhouse has been obtained via http://www.amounderness.co.uk/householders_lytham_1907.html; census information; Births Marriages and Death Indexes and probate records from Ancestry.com
www.findmypast.co.uk
www.ancestry.co.uk
www.stpaulsfairhaven.org.uk
www.lancashirebmd.org.uk
‘The bequest comprised 10 paintings of which this, by the donor, an amateur artist, must be one. The others, presumably also by Susan Woodhouse, are presently lost, having apparently been "loaned temporarily to the Children's Cottage Homes at Kirkham of the National Assistance Board" on 07.02.49. In 1968 they could not be traced.' (1) The Homes closed in 1957.
Inscribed on the reverse 'Copied by Mrs S Woodhouse at Art School, St Annes’. At that time there was no indication as to the original artist or where the scene was located. In June 2024 we were contacted by Debra Meiburg, who had seen the painting presented at auction by the artist 'Augustin Feyer 1886', although the signature did not seem to correspond. Further research by the Friends of the Lytham St Annes Art Collection has shown the artist to be the French painter, engraver and illustrator Francois Nicolas Augustin Feyer, known as Auguste Feyer-Perrin (1826-1888). He added his mother's maiden name to Feyer to help distinguish himself from his older brother, Jacques-Eugene Feyer, who was already an established artist when Auguste was fifteen.
The drama of the fiery sky in this oil painting by Susan Woodhouse immediately provokes a feeling of anxiety in the viewer. This is further developed by the dynamic line of the sail of the boat which is the focal point of the painting, and the artist’s skilful use of the splashes of bright red used on the boat from an otherwise limited palette of cobalt and sienna. The eye is led to this main boat by the activity of the men on the left pushing the rowing boat towards it, thus uniting the shallow and the deep plane of the distant horizon where more dynamic lines of sails appear.
Below the huge threatening sky of stormy billowing clouds, which covers two thirds of the picture, the boats and the pier loom in dramatic silhouette on a swirling sea where the free, brisk, lively energetic brushwork emphasises the storm in the scene.
ARTIST
Susan Woodhouse was born in 1872 in Newton Heath, Manchester, to Edward M Shepherd, a manufacturing chemist, and his wife, Susannah. The 1891 census describes Susan as a 'teacher of music'.
In 1898 she married William Henry Woodhouse from Ardwick, son of Simeon and Fanny Woodhouse. Simeon was a pawnbroker, as was William. The couple were still living in Manchester at the time of the 1901 census but by 1907 she was listed as living at 107 Warton Street in Lytham, although her husband, William, was not included at that address. By the 1911 census she was still resident there with William and a live-in domestic servant. The census revealed that prior to 1911 the couple had had two children who died in infancy.
Susan was widowed in 1918 at the age of 46. The probate record for William reveals that by then they were living at 20 Cyprus Avenue in Ansdell. She continued to live at Cyprus Avenue until she herself died on 24 October 1948, aged 77, in Lytham Hospital.
In 1946 Susan Woodhouse donated a large watercolour by Henry Rheam, The Long Day Wanes (1889), to the Collection. Rheam had links with the Newlyn School but Woodhouse, as Sartin noted, seems to have been an amateur artist who lived locally with no connection to Rheam or Newlyn.
In St Paul’s Church, Fairhaven, there is an altar rail dedicated to William and Susan inscribed:
'This altar rail is erected in the memory of William Henry Woodhouse and Susan, his wife, a true
and faithful worker for St Paul’s.'
REFERENCES
(1) http://www.lythamstannesartcollection.org/the-treasures.html
(2) Her birth is registered in the January – March Quarter of 1872 (registration district Manchester, Vol 8d, p 337). As there is a period of six weeks before a birth needs to be registered she could feasibly have been born in December 1871. The rest of the biographical information on Susan Woodhouse has been obtained via http://www.amounderness.co.uk/householders_lytham_1907.html; census information; Births Marriages and Death Indexes and probate records from Ancestry.com
www.findmypast.co.uk
www.ancestry.co.uk
www.stpaulsfairhaven.org.uk
www.lancashirebmd.org.uk
