On the Shore
The Cape Ann Museum traces Winslow Homer’s evolution as a marine painter
The Cape Ann Museum traces Winslow Homer’s evolution as a marine painter
In 1869,Winslow Homer exhibited his very first ocean view—rocky Coast and Gulls. The next 11 years would define his career as he gained a reputation as a masterful marine painter. Now, 150 years later, this prolific period is being brought to the foreground in Homer at the Beach: a Marine Painter’s Journey, 1869-1880 at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, Massachusetts. It’s a fitting venue, as Cape Ann was where Homer created many of his marine paintings.
Before he turned his eye to the sea, Homer was making his living as an illustrator. He had a great reputation in the field, but he wanted more. He wanted to be known as a fine artist.the trouble was, he hadn’t created much art.
On a trip to France in 1867, something finally clicked into place. During the 10 months of his visit, his horizons
were widened. He witnessed the range of French painting in Paris and the countryside.
“We know very little of what he did in France, but painters like Boudin were making paintings of the coast,” says William Cross, curator of the exhibition. Despite not knowing the details of the trip, it’s clear that it changed his thinking, and along the way changed his approach to his art career. “when he returned to the United States, he began visiting the coast, focusing first on resort locations, and that was consistent with what French painters were doing.”
The exhibition assembles more than 50 paintings spanning a little over a decade. “we wanted to show the diverse chronological and geographic journey Homer charted, including not only the locations on Cape Ann but other marine locations that were important to his development as a marine artist,” Cross explains.
The journey begins with in Long Branch, New Jersey, which was a popular resort locale at the time. there, Homer created an ambitious painting called Low Tide. He was very proud of the result—but the critics disagreed with his assessment.
Cross says, “he got a very disdainful set of reviews and took a knife to the painting.” Only two pieces survive, and they will be reunited at the Cape Ann exhibition to be seen as Homer originally intended. One of the pieces is in a collection in upstate Newyork and the other in Madrid.the two have only been shown together in the United States once
before, in 1995.
If the year 1869 was formative for Homer’s painting career, 1873 was transformative. It was then that he picked up watercolors during time spent in Gloucester. Before then, he appears to never have touched them.
“He was incredibly effective with this new medium.the following winter he exhibited 10 of them,” Cross says. Of those 10, only two can be identified with certainty today, both of which will be exhibited at the Cape Ann exhibition. The introduction of the medium into Homer’s repertoire also resulted in a new source of income. It allowed him to finally give up illustration and transition to working solely on fine art.
It was in watercolor that he completed a group of unusual marine works, all depicting contemplative yet fashionable women.about a dozen of these paintings exist.they were created in Greenwich, Connecticut, at a bucolic location called Field’s Point.the women, despite their carefully crafted appearances, harmonize with the setting.the Cape Ann Museum will, for the first time, focus on this set of watercolors as a distinct body.
In addition to the works of art, the exhibition also includes a series of historical objects, including costumes, photographs and engravings, to better help viewers understand Homer’s perspective.
The artist was deeply inspired by Japanese prints, a selection of which will be on display alongside the artwork that they influenced, letting visitors see how the two distinct styles play off each other. “These objects are core to what we are trying to do,” Cross says.“we want to provide a richer understanding of Homer’s art by displaying these objects that demonstrate social, historical, economic and cultural context. Because he was deeply rooted in context.”
Also among these objects is a Peapod boat, a double-ended vessel unique to the coast of Maine and depicted by Homer in Winding Lane during his first trip to the state in 1875.“It’s remarkable. He very quickly focused on an archetypal Maine fisherman with this archetypal vessel and in such classic light,” Cross says. “He had an acute ability to observe his surrounds—he noticed this unique vessel and incorporated it in his first major Maine work.”
Homer returned to Gloucester and Cape Ann once again in the summer of 1880. It was the most prolific season of his career, and he produced over
100 watercolors including several dramatic sunsets, which will be on view in the exhibition.
This summer was impressive not only because of his astounding productivity, but also because in many ways, it signaled the end of an era. In 1881, he made another trip to Europe, and when he returned the next year, his paintings were marked by a sobriety and ambition that had been absent in those earliest marine works.
Running concurrently with the
Cape Ann exhibition is Winslow Homer: Eyewitness, which opens August 31 at the Harvard Art Museums in nearby Cambridge, Massachusetts. though the two were not planned with each other in mind, Cross credits “providential timing. ”the Harvard exhibition provides a near perfect complement to the Cape Ann exhibition. It will feature two of Homer’s earliest paintings from 1865, and the rest date from the last 30 years of his life.the two shows provide viewers with an opportunity to see the whole span of Homer’s career.
Though the famously private artist didn’t leave many letters behind, Homer at the Beach gives important insight into his evolution as a painter. In order to achieve such a close-up view of this period, the exhibition brings together works sourced from over 40 collections, both public and private.
“What we wanted to do with this exhibition was put Homer’s marine works in context and give a deep sense of what he was doing over the years in this genre… we set out to assemble the best possible collection of his marine works,” Cross says. “he had such an amazing breadth, from breaking waves to fashionable women.” Homer at the Beach opens August 3 and remains on view at the Cape Ann Museum, its sole venue, through December 1.