Fishing, 1878

View Similar Items

Martha Walter - "A Grandmother's Delight"

Doris Warner - Seated Woman Figurative Portrait

Joseph Yeager - "Estudiante" - Portrait of a Mexican Girl

Joseph Yeager - Portrait of an Art Student with Brooch, Mid Century Figurative Watercolor

William Howard Knowles - "Sesarma" Colorful Village Scene with Figures and Cow, Large-Scale Watercolor

Joseph Yeager - Mid Century Portrait of a Young Mexican Girl

C. Harry Allis - Early 20th Cent. Figurative -- Fontainebleau Forest and Women Gathering

Howard Garfield Gray - Schooners on the Coast with Rocks Tide Pools and bird by Howard Garfield Gray

Frederick Leo Hunter - Sailboats in the Harbor, Early 20th Century Figurative Landscape Watercolor

Donald Swyner - Waves Over Rocks Seascape and Seagulls

G Robinson - Reading on the Park Bench

David Mode Payne - Family Dinner Time 1932 American Classic Interior Design

Want more images or videos?

Request additional images or videos from the seller

1 of 3

Winslow Homer
Fishing, 1878
1878

Name: Fishing, 1878
Brand: Winslow Homer
Price: 295000 USD
Availability: InStock

About

WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910) Fishing, 1878 Charcoal and watercolor on paper 8 13/16 x 10 9/16 inches Signed lower right, “W.H.” PROVENANCE John G. Pierce, Milton, Massachusetts, n.d. Mrs. John G. Pierce, Milton, Massachusetts, by bequest, n.d. Fessenden School, Newton, Massachusetts, by gift, c. 1960 John Nicholson Gallery, 1967 Private Collection, n.d. ACA Galleries, n.d. Herbert A. Goldstone, New York, n.d. ACA Galleries, 1998 William Vareika Fine Arts, Ltd., Newport, Rhode Island, 1999 Private Collection, 2002 Private Collection, 2007 (sold: Sotheby’s, New York, May 23, 2007; sale 8322, lot no. 5) Winslow Homer, the noted landscape painter and printmaker, is one of the foremost figures in nineteenth century American art. Having made quite a name for himself as a painter of marine subjects, the self-taught artist’s oeuvre extends far beyond these paradigmatic examples; the scope of his work is extensive in its breadth and depth, broaching a wide range of subject matter and traversing a range of mediums with ease. Drawn in New York on a farm in Hempstead, Long Island, Fishing is the source for one of Homer’s mid-career watercolors of the same title and year, which he later translated into the oil painting, Fishin’ of 1879. Though prior to the 1870s Homer had employed the watercolor medium only intermittently, the year of 1873 marked a turning point in his use of the medium. From this point, works in watercolor suddenly came to encompass the majority of his output, and the following year marked Homer's first exhibition at the American Society of Painters in Watercolors; shortly thereafter, he became a full member. Building upon the larger theme of man in harmony with nature, Homer commonly painted children in idyllic natural settings. Rural subjects, scenes of farm life, or children playing featured prominently in his work throughout the 1870s, and for American collectors of the late nineteenth century, offered a desirable alternative to images of the urban realities of industrialism. In a review of his paintings exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1875, the American writer and critic Henry James described Homer’s children as “freckled, straight-haired Yankee urchins” with their “calico sunbonnets and flannel shirts.” James continued: “He has taken the least pictorial features of the least pictorial range of scenery and civilization…has resolutely treated them as if they were pictorial…and he has uncontestably succeeded.”[1] Fishing is one of many of Homer’s works depicting the activity of fishing. Here, a girl and boy languidly hold their rods above a tranquil pond. Homer has emphasized the stillness of the water’s surface through daubs of white paint, indicating the mid-afternoon sunlight on a calm summer day. He carefully captures the streaks of light along their slender poles and across their straw hat and bonnet, which protect the children from the heat of the sun’s rays. In the watercolor and oil iterations, Homer expresses the effects of sunlight along their rose, blue and yellow garments. Though the positioning of the figures is largely consistent across the drawing and the paintings, Homer replaces the flat open farmland of the drawing for a more lush tree-filled setting in the later paintings. This vegetation evokes a more natural setting, untouched by human intervention, and the curve of the dark tree branch spreading horizontally across the canvas closes off the composition and brings focus to the figures in the foreground. Yet, Homer keeps the tall plant from the left side of the drawing, whose height causes it to bow gently over the head of the girl. He uses this plant as a framing device for the figures in the paintings, yet adds additional leaves to emphasize the rich greenery of the pond’s environs. A native Bostonian, Homer was born in 1836 and attended school in Cambridge. His mother, a watercolor painter in her own right, likely taught Homer to paint and later encouraged his professional pursuits. After graduating high school, Homer entered into an apprenticeship at J. H. Bufford, a local lithographic firm, where he remained for two years. In 1857 Homer left his apprenticeship to move to New York. He supported himself as a freelance illustrator, producing drawings which appeared in weekly publications—such as Ballou's and Harper's Weekly. Homer, who had no formal artistic training, built his experience on his apprenticeship at Bufford's and enrolled in night classes at the National Academy of Design. In addition, he was able to arrange a month of study with the French genre painter Frederick Rondel (1826-1892), who was living in New York at that time. With the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Homer was employed as an artist correspondent for Harper's Weekly, during which time he produced series of illustrations depicting daily life at camp. From 1863 on, Homer exhibited regularly at the National Academy of Design, and was eventually elected an academician (1865). Homer's most notable painting of the Civil War, Prisoners from the Front, was completed the following year; it was exhibited at the National Academy (1866), as well as at the Exposition Universelle in Paris (1867), effectively establishing Homer's reputation. Homer traveled abroad in 1866, spending much of his time in France. Though little is known of the time he spent there, it is likely that he spent a great deal of time taking in contemporaneous art movements and integrating himself into Parisian artist circles. After returning to New York the following year, Homer established his studio in the Tenth Street Studio Building and became a founding member of the Tile Club. Although he lived in New York City for nearly two decades, the city itself did not tend to enter into his artwork. Instead, Homer made frequent summer trips to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Lake George, Saratoga, and the Adirondacks in upstate New York, and Long Branch in New Jersey in search of subject matter. Homer often integrated children into his scenes of rural life, eschewing the over-wrought sentimentality of many genre painters in favor of a gentle realism. Homer spent two years in England in the early 1880s, at Cullercoats, where he produced numerous studies of village and fisherman life. After returning again to the United States, Homer settled in Prouts Neck, Maine. He remained there for the rest of his life, venturing south during the winters to warmer locales such as Cuba, Florida, Nassau and Bermuda. Homer died in Prouts Neck in 1910, at the age of seventy-four. [1] Henry James. “On Some Pictures Lately Exhibited,” Galaxy 20, July 1875, pp. 93-94.

Details

Creator:
Winslow Homer (1836 - 1910, American)
Creation Year:
1878
Dimensions:
Height: 8.82 in (22.41 cm)Width: 10.57 in (26.85 cm)
Medium:
Paper,Charcoal,Watercolor
Movement & Style:
American Impressionist
Period:
1870-1879
Condition:
Gallery Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU2151211211012

More Ways To Browse

Watercolors Of Florida

Native American Watercolor

Fishing, 1878

View Similar Items

Winslow Homer
Fishing, 1878
1878

About

Details

Late 19th Century American Impressionist Portrait Paintings

James Carroll Beckwith
Nita, 1897

19th Century Hudson River School Landscape Paintings

Jervis McEntee
Mink Hollow Brook by Hudson River Artist Jervis McEntee (American, 1828-1891)

19th Century Hudson River School Landscape Paintings

Nelson Augustus Moore
Lake Mohonk by Hudson River Artist Nelson Augustus Moore (American, 1824-1902)

19th Century Hudson River School Landscape Paintings

Worthington Whittredge
Landscape in the Hudson Valley by Worthington Whittredge (American, 1820-1910)

19th Century Hudson River School Landscape Paintings

James McDougal Hart
A Day in November, 1863 by James MacDougal Hart (American: 1828–1901), 1863

19th Century Hudson River School Landscape Paintings

Thomas Doughty
Catskill Landscape, 1836 by Thomas Doughty (American, 1793-1856), 1836

Early 1900s American Impressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Martha Walter
"A Grandmother's Delight", c. 1906

1970s American Impressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Doris Warner
Seated Woman Figurative Portrait, circa 1970s

Mid-20th Century American Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Joseph Yeager
"Estudiante" - Portrait of a Mexican Girl, circa 1940s-1950s

1960s American Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Joseph Yeager
Portrait of an Art Student with Brooch, Mid Century Figurative Watercolor , mid-1960s

Late 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

William Howard Knowles
"Sesarma" Colorful Village Scene with Figures and Cow, Large-Scale Watercolor , late 20th century

1960s American Impressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Joseph Yeager
Mid Century Portrait of a Young Mexican Girl , c.mid-1950s

Recently Viewed

More Ways To Browse

Fishing, 1878

View Similar Items

Winslow HomerFishing, 18781878

About

Details

Late 19th Century American Impressionist Portrait Paintings

James Carroll BeckwithNita, 1897

19th Century Hudson River School Landscape Paintings

Jervis McEnteeMink Hollow Brook by Hudson River Artist Jervis McEntee (American, 1828-1891)

19th Century Hudson River School Landscape Paintings

Nelson Augustus MooreLake Mohonk by Hudson River Artist Nelson Augustus Moore (American, 1824-1902)

19th Century Hudson River School Landscape Paintings

Worthington WhittredgeLandscape in the Hudson Valley by Worthington Whittredge (American, 1820-1910)

19th Century Hudson River School Landscape Paintings

James McDougal HartA Day in November, 1863 by James MacDougal Hart (American: 1828–1901), 1863

19th Century Hudson River School Landscape Paintings

Thomas DoughtyCatskill Landscape, 1836 by Thomas Doughty (American, 1793-1856), 1836

Early 1900s American Impressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Martha Walter"A Grandmother's Delight", c. 1906

1970s American Impressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Doris WarnerSeated Woman Figurative Portrait, circa 1970s

Mid-20th Century American Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Joseph Yeager"Estudiante" - Portrait of a Mexican Girl, circa 1940s-1950s

1960s American Impressionist Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

Joseph YeagerPortrait of an Art Student with Brooch, Mid Century Figurative Watercolor , mid-1960s

Late 20th Century American Impressionist Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

William Howard Knowles"Sesarma" Colorful Village Scene with Figures and Cow, Large-Scale Watercolor , late 20th century

1960s American Impressionist Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Joseph YeagerMid Century Portrait of a Young Mexican Girl , c.mid-1950s

Recently Viewed

More Ways To Browse

Winslow Homer
Fishing, 1878
1878

James Carroll Beckwith
Nita, 1897

Jervis McEntee
Mink Hollow Brook by Hudson River Artist Jervis McEntee (American, 1828-1891)

Nelson Augustus Moore
Lake Mohonk by Hudson River Artist Nelson Augustus Moore (American, 1824-1902)

Worthington Whittredge
Landscape in the Hudson Valley by Worthington Whittredge (American, 1820-1910)

James McDougal Hart
A Day in November, 1863 by James MacDougal Hart (American: 1828–1901), 1863

Thomas Doughty
Catskill Landscape, 1836 by Thomas Doughty (American, 1793-1856), 1836

Martha Walter
"A Grandmother's Delight", c. 1906

Doris Warner
Seated Woman Figurative Portrait, circa 1970s

Joseph Yeager
"Estudiante" - Portrait of a Mexican Girl, circa 1940s-1950s

Joseph Yeager
Portrait of an Art Student with Brooch, Mid Century Figurative Watercolor , mid-1960s

William Howard Knowles
"Sesarma" Colorful Village Scene with Figures and Cow, Large-Scale Watercolor , late 20th century

Joseph Yeager
Mid Century Portrait of a Young Mexican Girl , c.mid-1950s