Aufbruch zum Fischfang

Sargent was 22 and had barely started. In the summer of 1877 he went to Cancale, a fishing town on the Brittany coast known for its oyster beds, to make studies for the first big picture he would send to a public exhibition. This is that picture, or one of two versions of it. Women and children pick their way across the shore at low tide, baskets in hand, heading out to work the flats while the water is down. He kept the light loose, the wet sand and the sky brushed thinly, but set the figures firmly in place. He sent the larger version to the Paris Salon of 1878. It did what he hoped, and the notices helped set a very long career going.