Edward Seago hailed from Britain and I rank him right up there with Montague Dawson and J.M.W. Turner for British artists for his paintings of the sea. Seago’s sea paintings have such a fresh quality and mixture of greys and heavy atmosphere the viewer never gets tired looking at this artist’s work.
Here is a wonderful selection of paintings by Edward Seago set to music.
Seago was prolific and did many works in oils and watercolour. His father was a merchant in the coal industry and Seago was born in 1910 in the city of Norwich, England. For his art education Seago was basically self taught, some critics say that is what gives his work a great plein air feel. Seago was able to gain study on occasion with a great painter of the sea Bernard Priestman. Here is an example of Priestman’s style of seascape painting.
At the age of fourteen Seago won an award from the Royal Drawing Society and then the artist knew what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. When he was eighteen Seago took off globetrotting by joining the circus.
Some colour from the Royal family. Since I just did a post featuring the Windsor family I must mention that the late Queen Elizabeth bought so many eventually Seago gave her two paintings per year! Prince Phillip sponsored a tour to the Arctic and Seago was able to make some spectacular paintings capturing the light of dusk and sunsets that took place at the Arctic. I enjoy this work for its light and dark shapes and the complimentary colours used.
If I was to compare Seago’s paintings to a more modern and contemporary artist it would be Ed Minoff. Minoff is one of the countries best painters when it comes to waves and the currents and swells of the ocean. Here we have a wonderful drawing studying the pattern of breaking waves by Minoff.
Here we have a wonderful painting of the same subject matter.
Whilst we are on the subject of fantastic painters of the sea I must mention the contemporary painter Woody Gwyn. For me an artist is reaching master level when a smaller canvas seems much larger. The viewer is thinking how can so much space fit on such a small support. Examples of this art would be Keith Jacobshagen. A small panel seems to go on and on in the distance by the artist’s knowledge of soft edges, tone, and horizon line. To give a brief of example check out this picture by Jacobshagen. I get the feeling of an immense feeling of space, much as you feel with a great painter of the sea such as Montague Dawson or Edward Seago.
Lets take a look at some paintings by Woody Gwyn that emphasize the greys and heavy atmosphere often found at sea level locations. I enjoy his works for their interesting support shapes. Many works that are horizontal and you might expect to see on a 24 for by 36 format, are exaggerated by the artist and you end up with a painting that deals with exactly the same subject matter in a more elongated form. Here are two paintings of water by Gwyn that I easily get lost in.
and another…
Edward Seago passed away in 1974 and seemed to inspire many artists looking to capture water and the ocean in his footsteps. The artist had developed a brain tumor. In a strange request honored after his passing Seago demanded one third of the works held in his estate were destroyed. This sure cements a high price range for those works left behind.
Hope this session provides some inspiration for you to try a painting of the sea!
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