In Deep Waters: Survival and Struggle in Slavery

    As a prominent American artist, Winslow Homer (1836-1910) is known for his artwork portraying scenes of army life during the Civil War and nature, especially that of seascapes. Winslow Homer’s The Gulf Stream depicts a Black man lying on a small, damaged boat surrounded by blue, turbulent waters and circling sharks. The contrast in value highlights the figure and the hurricane, bringing them to our closest attention. Though he only meant for the subject to be quite literally seen as a gulf stream, it would have been impossible for the viewers in the early 20th century to separate their associations and experiences from the piece; to them, it was a lot more than just a man stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean. This exhibit invites you to explore not only how The Gulf Stream was interpreted by its original audience, but also how the sea illustrates the more grim aspects of history; the suppressed threats like governmental power and social injustice that lurks beneath the surface, threats that proceed to shape the state and identity of America today. Though the war ended in 1865 and the 13th Amendment’s ratification freed many slaves, discrimination, oppression, and segregation continued, and it was particularly unusual for a white man to respect or even feel sympathetic towards African Americans, though Homer clearly expresses it here. For Homer’s viewers, the sharks could be seen as a visual metaphor for power, racial violence, and corruption. At the same time, the man mirrors the struggle of survival and the fragility of human life. This exhibition centers on The Gulf Stream and features popular pieces by Gauguin, Copley, Théodore Géricault, John Raphael Smith, and J.M.W. Turner.

Manaò tupapaú (Spirit of the Dead Watching)

Paul Gauguin, 1892, oil on burlap canvas, Buffalo AKG Art Museum

    

    Manaò tupapaú is about a young Tahitian girl who is haunted by the presence of a ghost of the dead. The sharks in the Gulf Stream can be read as a metaphorical or literal form of death, much like the spirit in Manaò tupapaú is a psychological predator. The act of being vulnerable, pursued, or victimized (by a spirit or nature) is a mutual experience between the figures in each painting. Also, like the girl in Gauguin’s painting, the man’s posture is lying and resigned, which offers the reaction of confrontation or acceptance of death instead of what the viewer would expect: panic.

Watson and the Shark

John Singleton Copley, 1778, oil on canvas, The National Gallery of Art

    Watson and the Shark depicts the traumatic event and rescue of Brook Watson, who is attacked by a shark in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, in 1749. The merchant ships in the background are seen from the slave trade, as the Caribbean was one of the central ports for auctioning. This painting also shares the common motif of the struggle to survive in the sea, as Watson fights for his life from the physical threat of the shark. By using the shark, Copley emphasized the predatory nature and drama of the painting, similar to how sharks circle the boat in Homer's work, hinting at the political hierarchy and attitudes toward African Americans at the time.

Slave Trade

John Raphael Smith (after George Morland), 1791, mezzotint on laid paper, The National Gallery of Art

    Slave Trade by Smith was engraved after Morland’s colored print. The engraving portrays the tragedy of dehumanization and helplessness of the state they were living in. This piece also speaks to the hierarchy of White people in the 20th century, as the figure is subjected and the one man holds a stick to control him. The figure is seen to be separated from his family and stripped of his humanity. The ships on the left and the water also allude to the coming journey across the Atlantic that they must make; this is referred to as the Middle Passage.

Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On)
Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1840, oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

    Turner bases the painting on the poem "Fallacies of Hope," which described the story of the British ship, the Zong, whose captain in 1781 had thrown slaves overboard, so that he could receive insurance money for those "lost at sea." Turner’s use of color and his work overall evoke the “apocalyptic” horrors and moral implications of slavery to inspire action toward abolition. This can even be seen in the scattered pops of bloody red, which also appear in the Raft of Medusa and The Gulf Stream.

Raft of the Medusa
Théodore Géricault, 1818-19, oil on canvas, The Louvre

    The Raft of the Medusa illustrates a group stranded on a raft after the wreck of the French ship Medusa in 1816. It expresses the peoples desperation and despair, this even leads to them to cannibalism, where only 10 out of 150 people survive. At the top of the group, a Black man waves a piece of fabric, likely to be the confederate flag, signaling for help from a ship far away in the background. Because the Black man is at the top, it honors him in the same way that Homer honors the man on the boat, which in the 20th century was surprising to viewers. This piece is proof of another call to sympathy and to action against social injustice.

After the Hurricane, Bahamas

Winslow Homer, 1899, Watercolor and graphite on ivory wove paper, The Art Institute of Chicago

    Unlike some of the previous artworks, After the Hurricane, Bahamas focuses on the aftermath (literally or metaphorically in a historical context) of a situation and the resilience of those affected by it. It reflects on survival and recovery, whereas The Gulf Stream centers on the struggle and trauma of the event. This speaks to the ways people acknowledge, cope, and grow through managing the impact of an event. Homer suggests that if activism is pursued, then there is hope after the storm and the potential for change.

The Gulf Stream

Winslow Homer, 1899, oil on canvas, 06.1234