Incoming Tide 1917

Curator: What a dramatic slice of coastline. Editor: Indeed! This oil painting, titled "Incoming Tide," was created in 1917 by Rose O'Neill. It captures the rugged beauty of a seaside vista with loose, expressive brushstrokes. It practically vibrates. Curator: That dynamism strikes me as well. I can almost feel the sea spray on my face just looking at the colors swirling together! What's interesting is O'Neill, already well-known for her Kewpie illustrations, increasingly moved towards serious, almost avant-garde, art as her career progressed. It makes you wonder what propelled that change. Editor: The sea itself carries so many loaded symbols: power, chaos, the subconscious. Visually, note how the rocks in the foreground anchor us, while the roiling water pulls the eye further out. This tension evokes a potent sense of the sublime. Curator: Perhaps that fascination with the sublime speaks to a wider cultural shift at the time. Early 20th-century artists wrestled with unprecedented change—social upheaval, the trauma of war—and turned to nature as a source of both solace and fear. This seascape reflects that ambivalence, the tension between beauty and the relentless power of nature. It is also significant that the artist was a prominent female figure actively working against conventions that held most women artists back. Editor: Exactly. Water can signify purification but also obliteration, think of the pervasive flood mythos that transcends civilizations. Rose O’Neill, it seems, tapped into primal, universal feelings associated with the ocean, expressing raw, almost ecstatic energy. Curator: Looking at it within that historical frame enriches our understanding. Art as a way of coping with overwhelming changes. Editor: It makes me appreciate her unique vision even more. There’s almost something…therapeutic…about the waves crashing onto those ancient rocks.