Rhapsody Blues

19. Winslow Homer

About it:

Do you enjoy the view of the ocean? How about when it is calm ocean or even the ocean with its violent waves? Winslow Homer was a seascape painter in the Realism time period that enjoyed painting the sea. (See picture on the right.) The Realism time period was when artists attempted to depict things accurately, either as a visual or from an emotional perspective. This is a research paper.

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Winslow Homer

Winslow Homer was one of the recognized seascape painters of the Realism time period. Born on February 24, 1836 at Boston, Massachusetts, Homer was the second eldest of three sons of an old New England family. His mother, Henrietta Benson Homer, was an amateur watercolorist and his father, Charles Savage Homer, was an unstable businessman. He received his early influence from his mother and her artwork. Although he was an average student, his artistic talent was recognized early in his lifetime. After his high school graduation, his father arranged for him to apprentice to J. H. Buford, who was a Boston commercial lithographer, for two years. After his apprenticeship in the year of 1857, he turned down the offer to join the staff of Harper’s Weekly. He quoted, “From the time I took my nose off that lithographic stone, I have had no master and never shall have any.” In 1859, Homer opened his own art studio in the Tenth Street Building in New York City, the art and publishing capital of the United States. Until 1963, he attended classes at National Academy of Design. During that time, he studied very briefly with Frederick Rondel, who taught him the basics to painting. Within a year, he could skillfully paint oil-based paintings. His mother tried to raise money to send her son to Europe where he could continue his studies in art. Instead, Harper’s Weekly sent him to of the Civil War (1861-1865) to sketch battle scenes and the camp life. His primary sketches, from the war, were mainly about the Union officer, Major General George B. McClellan, at the banks of the Potomac River in October 1861. After the war ended, he converted his focus of drawing to children, young women and marine subjects. During his lifetime, he married a woman named Edith and had one son named Charles Lowell. He died on September 29, 1910 at Prouts Neck, Maine at the age of 74, due to old age. His painting, Shooting the Riptide, Saguenay River, remains unfinished. Buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he is remembered as one of the most influential artists today.  

After his death, a man named Robert Henri described Homer’s artwork as, “an integrity of nature.” Homer was mainly well-known for his artworks containing marine subjects. In his artwork, Waiting An Answer, (see figure 1) was painted in the year 1872. The painting shows a man with a gardening tool as he tends the field. Alongside of him, is a woman who is dressed is pink colored dress with a white apron tied in the front. Her hair is held up in a bun and is holding a sun hat in her left hand. The woman looks as if she is waiting for the man to respond, while the man looks hesitant with his response. This artwork was done by oil paints on canvas and the actual painting is held in the Peabody Art Collection in Maryland. The way that Homer depicts the painting makes it seem almost real; that you could predict what is happening in that scene from his artwork. In another one of his paintings, Breezing Up A Fair Wind, (see figure 2) was painted from the years 1873-1876. It shows a sailboat sailing in harsh weather while the violent waves strike the side of the boat as it teeters to one side. Three boys and a man sit inside the boat with their catch of fish. Like the previous painting, this painting was also painted using oil paints on canvas and the actual painting is located at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Finally, in the painting, Cullercoats Fisherwomen, (see figure 3) was completed in the year 1881. The painting portrays three women carrying two baskets that’s filled with fisher in Cullercoats. Cullercoats is an urban area northeast of England. These three women catch fish for a living and in the distance, you can spot the sea and sailboats. Unlike the previous two paintings, this painting was completed using graphite pencils and watercolors on watercolor paper. The authentic artwork exhibits in the Honolulu Academy of Arts in Hawaii. Realism took place in the 19th century as a result to Romanticism and history-based paintings. The Realist painters wanted to draw about ‘real life,’ so often of times, they used ordinary surroundings as their topic of artwork.

I think that the artwork by Homer seems real, as if you are actually there when he painted it. Homer lived during the Realism time period, when artists tried to depict objects accurately. I enjoy his artwork because he makes the marine objects so detailed and elaborate details, such as his artwork, Breezing Up A Fair Wind. His artwork always shows an accurate visual appearance. In Waiting An Answer, he paints the man and the woman with intricate details. For example, on the woman you can read her facial expressions; you can easily recognize that she is anxious for the man to reply. Also, the grass and the rest of the field is thoroughly painted with other colors, not only green. The lush grass that the man and woman is standing in and the leaves of the tree, is painted using small brush strokes of dark green, light green, yellow, red, white and brown. That part was as if it was done by an Impressionist artist.

The artwork that I’ve created to go along with my paper is called, Serene Twilight. My painting shows a teenage brunette girl sleeping peacefully while lying in a gray hammock. The girl is dressed in a pinkish yellow tank top while wearing jean shorts where the ends are tattered. On either sides of the hammock, there are palm trees in which the end piece is tied to the trunk of those trees. Below the hammock, the sand is a tannish color with specks of brown and gray while it shows two starfish. The waves from the ocean ebbs and flows onto the shore. Twilight is occurring in the background while the golden sun is shows its fiery glow before it disappears in the horizon. I named my painting, Serene Twilight, because the scene is calming while Twilight is taking place. The ocean, sun and the twilight scenes are completed using various Zentangle patterns. To complete my artwork, I used oil pastels and water color pencils on canvas.  My artwork is related to the artwork created by Homer because he mainly painted coastal subjects. Within my picture, I have included the scenery of the ocean. Also, I invented the idea of having a girl laying in a hammock from his painting, Girl In The Hammock (see figure 4.) In that painting, he painted a young lady in her her late twenties or early thirties lying in a hammock. His version of the lady is that the lady he painted was dressed in a sundress while reading a book. Yet, the girl I painted was in her teenage years, dressed in typical clothes that teenagers wear today, and she is asleep.

Winslow Homer had very few interesting facts. To begin with, he had an active outdoor boyhood, which led to his lifelong love of his country. Most of the times when he began a new masterpiece, he had do-or-don’t decisions to decide whether he should paint with watercolors or oil-based paints. Finally, his brother’s names were: Arthur Benson Homer and Charles Savage Homer Jr. Winslow Homer was a fascinating artist of the 19th century to study and research about.

Sources

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/homr/hd_homr.htm

http://www.biography.com/people/winslow-homer-9342812

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winslow_Homer

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/mar/24/winslow-homer-stern-facts/?pagination=false