[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

HANNAFORD, Charles Edward  [1863–1955]

Ship at Low Tide

ca1920-1930

watercolor on paper / 6.3 inches by 8.5 inches

Very near the geographic center of the U.S. (which is actually at Lebanon, Kansas, LAT. 39°50′ LONG. -98°35′), Agincourt is nearly equidistant from the oceans that bracket North America. Does that explain why seascapes are so well represented in the collection? All of them date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, though few are at specified locations.

C. E. Hannaford was British, which makes this an English seascape. Hannaford trained as an architect and civil engineer, then studied art in Paris. At home in England, he worked primarily in watercolor from rural counties like Cornwall and Norfolk, each with extensive coastlines. The prominent headlands make this more likely a Cornish scene.

Hannaford exhibited in London in 1910 and 1912 and from the latter show two pieces were acquired by King George V and Queen Alexandra. Despite being a work from almost one hundred years ago, “Ship at Low Tide” was a recent anonymous gift to the collection.

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