The marine paintings of W.A. Coulter provide historic glimpses at the working environments and ships that visited the West Coast in the Late 19th & Early 20th Century. In this luminous and open work, Coulter has a large sailing ship arriving into San Francisco harbor, passing through the "Golden Gate" Inches the strait defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula which would later hold the Golden Gate Bridge.
On the left are the red masonry walls of Fort Point. This important strategic site was first fortified by the Spanish in the late 1700's. Passing into Mexican rule it finally came under U.S. military control in the mid-1850's just prior to California annexation and statehood. On the right sits the white buildings of Lime Point Lighthouse as it looked around the turn of the century- the fog signal building sitting furthest left topped by the twin stacks of its steam fog whistles.
Painting this busy shipping lane was a Coulter favorite, and this composition bears a strong resemblance to one of his works which inspired a 1923 US Postage stamp. As in the stamp, the focus is on a square rigged ship sailing into the bay on a strong wind. A local fishing smack with billowing sails moves quickly across the bay, heading home with catch aboard pursued by seagulls hoping for a morsel. Two men in a small dinghy strain at their oars to navigate the strong swell coming in from the sea. All of these ships were common sights in the early years of the 20th century, though the age of steam and her ships would soon overtake the waters.
As the sun sets, an unusually warm glow permeates the horizon, lighting up waters more often famously shrouded in fog and mist revealing a wealth of color and reflections. Coulter's lively brushwork brings impressionistic touches, particularly in the sea and finely rendered clouds. His passion for the sea and his beloved San Francisco shines in this historic glimpse into the vanishing age of sail.
