Manana Islands (1925): Art, History and Details

Manana Islands (1925) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Frank Wilcox (American, 1887–1964).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Manana Island, Maine, sits directly next to the more well-known Monhegan Island, from where this view was likely inspired. Monhegan had long hosted an artist colony by the time Wilcox visited in the 1920s. In this image, the artist appears to have recorded the sunrise, paying especial attention to the color and shape of the clouds. Wilcox later acknowledged that the pure colors he used in his work were perceived as bold at the time, though it was not his intention.

Object facts

• Title: Manana Islands
• Date: 1925
• Creator attribution: Frank Wilcox (American, 1887–1964)
• Culture: America, Ohio, Cleveland
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: watercolor
• Dimensions: Paper: 38.1 x 50.8 cm (15 x 20 in.)
• Collection: DR - American - Cleveland School
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 1952.82

A detail from the museum

Before his second trip to Maine, Wilcox recalled reading works by American author and naturalist Henry David Thoreau, which reinvigorated his interest in nature.

Collection credit

The Mary Spedding Milliken Memorial Collection, Gift of William Mathewson Milliken

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.