A Holiday

CC0 Public Domain Designation

Arts of the Americas

c. 1915

Edward Henry Potthast
American, 1857–1927

A Holiday depicts one of the beach scenes for which Edward Henry Potthast was best known. Capturing a quintessentially Impressionist setting—a sun-dappled landscape with women and children enjoying leisure time—the artist also utilized the movement’s technique of broken brushwork and the use of brilliant colors. In the painting the children converse and frolic at the water’s edge on a windy day. There is nothing threatening about the waves or wind; indeed, Potthast’s paintings were both praised and criticized for presenting nothing other than a pleasant, innocent, and optimistic view.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of the Americas

Artist: Edward Henry Potthast
Title: A Holiday
Place: United States (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 1915
Medium: Oil on canvas
Inscriptions: Signed lower left: E. Potthast
Dimensions: 76.4 × 101.8 cm (30 1/8 × 40 1/8 in.)
Credit Line: Friends of American Art Collection
Reference Number: 1915.560
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/71573/manifest.json

Patricia Jobe Pierce, “Edward Henry Potthast: More Than One Man,” Pierce Galleries (2006) p. 57, ill.
Judith A. Barter, et al., The Age of American Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2011), cat. 75.

National Academy of Design, New York, Ninetieth Annual Exhibition, Mar. 20–Apr. 25, 1915, no. 212 [ill. facing p. 29].
California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Exhibition of Paintings: Collection of the Friends of American Art lent by the Art Institute of Chicago, June 26–July 26, 1926, no. 21.
Chicago, Garfield Park Art Galleries, Exhibition of Greek Sculptures and American Paintings lent by the Art Institute of Chicago, Nov. 5, 1935–Mar. 3, 1936.
Cincinnati Art Museum, Eternal Summer: The Art of Edward Henry Potthast, June 8–Sept. 8, 2013.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.