walking around: At The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Winslow Homer, 1836-1910, exhibit

CROSSCURRENTS:

“ close study of his art reveals a lifelong preoccupation with conflict and uncertainty as well as persistent concern with race and the environment.”

The exhibit contains 88 oils and watercolors. Quotes are from the exhibit.

The Cotton Pickers, 1876

“It’s title and the women’s portrayal suggest a post slavery economy in which little has changed for many”.

A Visit from the Old Mistress, 1876

“ A powerful evocation of lingering conflict and trauma with women and slavery at its center.”

Dressing for the Carnival, 1877

War and Reconstruction:

Homer was working as a popular illustrator in Boston for Harpers Weekly when they sent him to the front lines of Virginia with the Union Army.

‘Sharpshooter’ and ‘Prisoner from the Front’ “establish his reputation as a painter of pathos.”

Sharpshooter, 1866

Prisoners from the Front, 1866

Waterside:

“These seemingly lighthearted works intimate darker themes, foreshadowing the artist’s growing preoccupation with the risks involved in maritime life.”

Eagle Head, Manchester, Massachusetts (High Tide)

Eagle head, closer look, 1870

Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) closer look, 1873-76

Breezing Up

An Adirondack Lake, 1870

Along the Gulf Stream:

“Epic conflict between humankind and nature … developed over 20 years … references complex social and political issues, including the legacy of slavery and imperialism in the wake of the 1898 Spanish-Cuban-American War.”

“The centerpiece of the exhibit … a painting that reveals his lifelong engagement with charged subjects of race, geopolitics and the environment.”

The Gulf Stream, 1899

Diamond Shoal, 1905

“The junction of the Gulf Stream and the Labrador Current. Feared by sailors as the graveyard of the Atlantic.”

Northeaster, 1895-1901

Maine Coast,1896

Winter Coast, 1890

Winter Coast

Woods at Prout’s Neck, 1887

Perils of the Sea, 1881

Along the Gulf Stream

Waiting

Undertow, 1886

Lost on the Grand Banks, 1885

Rescue, 1887

Homer spent many winters in the Bahamas and believed his watercolors would be his legacy. “Ads promoted the healthful benefits of tropical paradise and Homer also suggests the exclusion of Black Islanders from Bahamian Society.”