Winslow Homer is among the most prolific American artists, often referred to as the most American painter, or purely a national American. His body of work is expansive and encompasses many American ideals, spanning from honoring depictions of rural Americans, to depictions of the powerful forces of nature. His images have become beautiful representations of American life and culture.
He began as a printmaker before working as an artists correspondent for Harper’s Weekly, an illustrated journal. During this time he captured many scenes from the civil war and from the life of soldiers in battle. This became a deeply compelling subject matter to him so in 1861 when he began oil painting, he continued to depict scenes of what it was to live in war. These images became famous in their right for the reality with which he showed these soldiers. He began his oil painting career with these paintings.
In the 1870’s he continued to be a printmaker as his profession but began producing more and more oil paintings, building his reputation as a painter. He was known for his scenes of everyday American life, often showing children playing, women calling for dinner, or young boys out at sea. His images now are seen as classic images of American life, and even at the time they were praised as such.
During the 1880’s Homer receded and began to paint in solitude. During this time his subject matter shifts to much more dramatic depictions of man against nature. He painted lots of images of crashing waves and of treacherous boat voyages, wanting to show the power of the natural world. During this time he moved from New York to Maine and found inspiration there.
In his later life he took trips to the tropics: Florida and the Caribbean. There he produced beautiful watercolors which take on a different tone than his heavy, darker oil paintings. His interest in people and nature remained during these trips, creating beautiful depictions of Caribbean life and landscape.
The Army of the Potomac – A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. VII)
November 15, 1862
Wood engraving
image: 9 1/8 x 13 3/4 in. (23.1 x 35 cm) sheet: 10 11/16 x 16 1/8 in. (27.2 x 40.9 cm)
29.88.3(5)
This is an earlier example of the magazine illustrations that Homer was doing. It depicts a young Union soldier aiming a rifle from his perch in a tree. It is an excellent image of the sorts of things that Homer was trying to capture. This wood engraving has an oil painting counterpart done by Homer painted after the print. It is a testament to his skill at capturing the small moments of war that go unseen. He was a truly American artist depicting very American wars.
Rainy Day in Camp
1871
Oil on canvas
20 x 36 in. (50.8 x 91.4 cm)
23.77.1
This is one of Homer’s later war camp paintings. It is still early in his oil painting career but clearly shares the inspiration of his many prints. These were among the types of paintings that people considered to be so nationally American. It was painted 6 years after the end of the civil war from sketches that Homer did while he was assigned to the unit depicted, the Sixty-First New York Volunteer Infantry. The scene shows the miserable conditions that soldiers of the civil war lived in, depicting five soldiers huddled around a pot cooking over a fire in the middle of army tents and tied up horses.
The Cotton Pickers
1876
Oil on canvas
24 1/16 × 38 1/8 in. (61.12 × 96.84 cm)
This is one of Homer’s most prolific images representing the post-slave emancipation economy. He was known for painting black figures in a very humanizing way. As seen in his later works as well, he was fascinated by issues of race and so often rendered these beautiful portraits about haunting truths for black Americans both before and after the slave trade. This object depicts two black women in ragged clothing picking cotton in a field. They carry large sacks for their work and expressions that show all the pain that they have endured.
Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)
1873–76
Oil on canvas
24 3/16 x 38 3/16 in. (61.5 x 97 cm)
Breezing Up is a painting of four young men sailing a boat on smooth waters. There is a fair wind and the boys are relaxed, holding the rudder comfortably in hand and confident about their place on the water. This is an early example of a subject that Homer would continue to explore: men and the sea. This particular object was seen as a representation of the confident and hopeful future of the nation at the time. The winds were fair, the sailors were competent and there were good things ahead.
Native Hut at Nassau
1885
Watercolor and graphite on wove paper
14 1/2 x 21 15/16 in. (36.8 x 53.2 cm)
In the early 1880’s Homer began his trips to the Bahamas. There he developed a watercolor portfolio with images that fit comfortably into his regular subject matter. He was interested in representing the Black communities in the Bahamas and the effects they were facing of the long lasting effects of slavery. Homer is still appealing to American audiences with this rendering of a hut at Nassau. The painting is of a small white hut with a thatched roof surrounded by lush foliage. It is in a way giving a beautiful face to painful relationships with slavery.
Shark Fishing
1885
Watercolor on paper
13 7/8 x 20 in. (35.2 x 50.8 cm)
This is another watercolor done by Homer during his time in the Bahamas. It is another poignant example of his fascination with the fight between man and nature as well as a look into the lives of these Black Bahamian fishermen. He often will depict fishermen at sea, and particularly sharks as we will see in his later work. This image is of two Black Bahamian fishermen on calm waters, wrestling a shark they have caught in their net. It is a continued testimony to Homer’s interest in post-war black communities and the fight they share with everyone else against the powerful ocean.
The Gulf Stream
1899; reworked by 1906
Oil on canvas
28 1/8 x 49 1/8 in. (71.4 x 124.8 cm)
Object Number: 06.1234
This is one of Homer’s later oil paintings that best encapsulates what drove his art for much of his life. It is of a black man laying on a boat with a broken mast in tumultuous, shark infested waters. His use of color and light gives a heavy and threatening feeling to the piece. It is very similar compositionally to Breezing Up but provides a very different emotion with it. Breezing Up is the hope for the American people while The Gulf Stream has a kind of intensity that is more evoking of his fascination with man’s battle against the natural world. The use of the Black figure is also continuing his dialogue about the struggles for post-war Black communities and their battle for a better future.
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