Winslow Homer1836-1910

• Born in Boston, MA

• Taught to draw and paint by his mother, an amateur watercolorist

• Little formal training

Winslow Homer: Early Career

• Worked as an apprentice to a lithographer

Disliked it greatly because he was just copying other people’s art

• Later, became an illustrator At 21 yrs., joined Harper’s

Weekly magazine

Winslow Homer: Early Career• During Civil War, sent to the front as an artist-

correspondent for Harper’s

The Army of the Potomac – A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty Home, Sweet Home (c. 1863)

Winslow Homer: Early Career• His most famous painting from the Civil War – Prisoners

from the Front

Winslow Homer: Travels• Homer lived

in and visited many places during his lifetime

• These places were represented in his work

• Here, a fisherman’s family awaits his return

Dad’s Coming (c. 1873)

Breezing Up (A Fair Wind), 1873-1876

Gloucester, Massachusetts• Homer became best known for his “Maritime Art”

• He was wonderful at capturing the many moods of the sea; incorporating drama, suspense and danger

Winslow Homer: Watercolors• Homer suddenly starting

painting with watercolors in 1873.

It had just became a “respectable” medium in the mid-1860’s

Home liked that he could produce and sell them quickly, making more money

• Favorite subjects in both his oil and watercolors

Solitary women, children, nature

The Sick Chicken (c. 1874)

Winslow Homer: Watercolors

The Milk Maid (c. 1878) Fresh Eggs (c. 1874)

• In his early work, Homer often painted rural scenes and farm life

Winslow Homer: Children• Though he never married or had children of his own,

Homer loved painting them in outdoor settings

Winslow Homer: Children• Snap the Whip (1872) was one of his most famous works

• You will see one-room schoolhouses, like the one in this piece, in other Homer paintings

Homer in England• In 1881-82, Homer spent

20 months in the fishing village of Cullercoats, England, on the North Sea

• He loved painting the women and children there.

Sparrow Hall (c. 1881-2)

Girl Carrying a Basket (1882)

Mending the Nets (1882)

The Maine Coast

• In 1883, Homer moved permanently to Prouts Neck, Maine

• He was a loner and enjoyed the isolation there

“Mind your own business” was his favorite phrase

• He loved showing the forces of nature and violent storms at sea

Incoming Tide (c. 1883)

The Maine Coast

• Homer’s paintings often seem like they are telling a story – perhaps in part because of his background as a journalist

The Fog Warning (1885)

The Tropics

The Water Fan (c. 1898)

• Homer would visit tropical locations such as Bahamas, Florida, Cuba & Bermuda to escape harsh winters in Maine.

The Tropics

Salt Kettle, Bermuda (c. 1899)

• Homer often left white parts of the canvas exposed to give a sense of the brilliant atmosphere

Homer’s Legacy• Independent, a loner who never married or had children

• Died in 1910 at his home in Prout’s Neck, Maine

• Ranked as one of the world’s finest watercolorists

• Considered one of the greatest American 19th Century artists

• Best known for his paintings of the sea & his ability to show its many moods

• Known for using the white of the paper for the lightest values

“The Sun will not rise or set without my notice and thanks.”

(Winslow Homer)