On the Quay (c. 1919): Art, History and Details

On the Quay (c. 1919) 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:

This energetic composition highlights Wilcox’s skill in conveying motion. In 1910, Wilcox traveled to Paris, where continued to create art in a realist manner rather than adopt abstraction. Here, he appears to be depicting a scene of minor difficulty. In the lower right, a man crouches next to a horse, its legs buckling under either the weight of the load or a misfitted harness. Another man grabs the attached cart, possibly to keep it from spilling over. Much like the viewer, the other figures in the scene watch the struggle unfold.

Object facts

• Title: On the Quay
• Date: c. 1919
• Creator attribution: Frank Wilcox (American, 1887–1964)
• Culture: America, Ohio, Cleveland
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching
• Dimensions: Platemark: 17.5 x 22.5 cm (6 7/8 x 8 7/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1920.280

A detail from the museum

Wilcox’s watercolors of France garnered him early acclaim, but he later became more well-known for his Cleveland images.

Collection credit

Purchased with funds given by friends of the May Show

Further reading listed by the museum

• Frank Wilcox Entry Card to 1920 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.

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.