Winslow Homer and England FACT SHEET
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Media Contact: Amanda Peterson, 414-224-3246 [email protected] Coming Away: Winslow Homer and England FACT SHEET Exhibition Title: Coming Away: Winslow Homer and England Date: March 1 – May 20, 2018 For more information: mam.org/sea Number of works in exhibition: 71 Number of works by Winslow Homer: 50 Exhibition highlights: ● Born in 1836 in Boston, Massachusetts, Winslow Homer is one of the most beloved American painters of the nineteenth century. This exhibition shows how the work of European masters influenced Homer and his depictions of the American landscape, leading to the evolution of his style and subject matter. ● Water has always inspired artists as at once breathtakingly beautiful and terrifyingly powerful. Homer’s paintings of the Atlantic coast from both Cullercoats and Maine connect to a larger tradition of artists’ attempts to capture the ever-changing nature of water. ● An eighteen-month sojourn to England in the small fishing village of Cullercoats from March 1881 through November 1882 changed Homer’s subject matter, technique and perspective on the world and shaped the rest of his career. Cullercoats and its inhabitants symbolized a rugged authenticity that allowed Homer to expand his interest in rustic themes and nurture his growing fascination with the sea. ● Co-presentation with Worcester Art Museum; Co-curated by and Brandon Ruud, Abert Family Curator of American Art at the Milwaukee Art Museum and Elizabeth Athens, exhibition co-curator, Worcester Art Museum, presently at the National Gallery of Art. ● Homer captures working class life on water in his art; unique opportunity for Milwaukee Art Museum visitors to see his works about water at a museum located on a large body of water. ● While at Worcester, The Wall Street Journal called Coming Away, “a splendid, thought-provoking exhibition.” (Lance Esplund, "Winslow Homer's Transforming Odyssey" November 13, 2017) Types of mediums featured in exhibition and descriptions: Paintings, watercolors, drawings and photographs by Homer and his contemporaries The time period covered by this exhibition: From 1840-1909 Winslow Homer’s work before his trip to Cullercoats Croquet Players, 1865 Oil on canvas 24 5/8 × 35 in. (62.55 × 88.9 cm) framed: 24 5/8 × 35 × 3 1/4 in. (62.55 × 88.9 × 8.26 cm) Collection Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, Charles Clifton and James G. Forsyth Funds, 1941 TL2018.HOM.43.1 Croquet Scene, 1866 Oil on canvas 15 7/8 × 26 1/16 in. (40.32 × 66.2 cm) framed: 24 3/4 × 34 3/4 in. (62.87 × 88.27 cm) The Art Institute of Chicago, Friends of American Art Collection; Goodman Fund TL2018.HOM.1.1 During 1865 and 1866, Homer executed a series of smartly dressed men and women competing in croquet matches. Sun-drenched canvases of men and women at recreation such as these reveal Homer’s early interest in the new French method of loose brushwork and simplified color. The Nurse, 1867 Oil on panel 19 × 11 in. (48.26 × 27.94 cm) framed: 25 3/16 × 17 15/16 in. (63.98 × 45.56 cm) The Terra Foundation for American Art, 1999.74 TL2018.HOM.2.1 The Dinner Horn, 1873 Oil on canvas image: 11 7/8 × 14 1/2 in. (30.16 × 36.83 cm) framed: 20 7/8 × 23 × 3 1/2 in. (53.02 × 58.42 × 8.89 cm) Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Dexter M. Ferry, Jr. 47.81 TL2018.HOM.45.1 The Cotton Pickers, 1876 Oil on Canvas 24 1/16 × 38 1/8 in. (61.12 × 96.84 cm) framed: 35 1/4 × 49 1/2 × 4 in. (89.54 × 125.73 × 10.16 cm) Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Acquisition made possible through Museum Trustees: Robert O. Anderson, R. Stanton Avery, B. Gerald Cantor, Edward W. Carter, Justin Dart, Charles E. Ducommun, Camilla Chandler Frost, Julian Ganz, Jr., Dr. Armand Hammer, Harry Lenart, Dr. Franklin D. Murphy, Mrs. Joan Palevsky, Richard E. Sherwood, Maynard J. Toll and Hal B. Wallis TL2018.HOM.5.1 Homer achieved fame as an artist for his initial reportage—and then paintings—of the Civil War, deeply touching and sensitive portrayals of camaraderie and loss, and the lives of African Americans under the horrors of slavery. Homer returned to Virginia in 1875, ten years after the close of the Civil War, to document African American life in the south under Reconstruction. When Homer exhibited the painting in New York in 1877, critics erroneously placed the figures in South Carolina and referred to them as slaves, placing the context of the painting in the past. The subject appealed to an English cotton merchant, who instantly bought it, took it to England, and submitted it to the Royal Academy for exhibition. Homer’s debut at this prominent English exhibition venue, as well as critical assessment of it as a history painting rather than a contemporary scene, likely informed his decision to seek new artistic grounds. Song of the Lark, 1876 Oil on canvas 38 5/8 × 24 1/4 in. (98.11 × 61.6 cm) framed: 51 1/8 × 36 7/8 × 5 in. (129.86 × 93.66 × 12.7 cm) Chrysler Museum of Art, Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. in honor of Dr. T. Lane Stokes 83.590 TL2018.HOM.7.1 Answering the Horn, 1876 Oil on canvas 38 5/8 × 24 1/4 in. (98.11 × 61.6 cm) framed: 48 1/4 × 33 1/2 in. (122.56 × 85.09 cm) Collection of the Muskegon Museum of Art, Hackley Picture Fund Purchase TL2018.HOM.8.1 The Watermelon Boys, 1876 Oil on canvas 24 1/8 × 38 1/8 in. (61.28 × 96.84 cm) framed: 34 1/4 × 48 1/8 × 4 1/2 in. (87 × 122.24 × 11.43 cm) Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of Charles Savage Homer, Jr. 1917-14-6 TL2018.HOM.39.10 In the early version of this painting, a farmer is visible at the fence line, having discovered the melon theft by the boys. Homer often revised his works, removing or moving background figures, many times making the story captured more ambiguous to the viewer. Looking Out to Sea, ca. 1881 Watercolor over graphite on off-white wove paper 13 11/16 × 19 3/8 in. (34.77 × 49.21 cm) framed: 21 1/2 × 27 1/2 × 3/4 in. (54.61 × 69.85 × 1.91 cm) Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Anonymous Gift, 1939.232 TL2018.HOM.19.6 In the Mountains, 1877 Oil on canvas 23 7/8 × 38 1/8 in. (60.64 × 96.84 cm) framed: 32 × 46 × 3 1/4 in. (81.28 × 116.84 × 8.26 cm) Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund 32.1648 TL2018.HOM.6.1 Winslow Homer’s work during his trip to Cullercoats Fishermen's Wives, ca. 1882–83 Oil on canvas 20 1/8 × 30 1/8 in. (51.12 × 76.52 cm) framed: 28 3/4 × 36 in. (73.03 × 91.44 cm) Lent by Harvard Club of New York City TL2018.HOM.12.1 After the Storm, ca. 1882 Charcoal with touches of white on tan wove paper 11 9/16 × 8 7/16 in. (29.37 × 21.43 cm) Princeton University Art Museum. Gift of Frank Jewett Mather Jr. X1949-149 TL2018.HOM.57.1 Sparrow Hall, 1881-1882 Oil on canvas 15 1/2 × 22 1/4 in. (39.37 × 56.52 cm) framed: 25 × 32 1/4 × 4 in. (63.5 × 81.92 × 10.16 cm) National Gallery of Art, John Wilmerding Collection, Promised Gift TL2018.HOM.13.1 Men Beaching a Boat, 1881–82 Black chalk on off-white wove paper 7 3/16 × 12 1/2 in. (18.26 × 31.75 cm) framed: 15 5/8 × 19 5/8 × 7/8 in. (39.69 × 49.85 × 2.22 cm) Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Edward W. Forbes 1952.202 TL2018.HOM.19.1 A Dark Hour, 1881–1882 Charcoal and wash on paper 8 1/8 × 12 1/4 in. (20.64 × 31.12 cm) framed: 17 1/2 × 21 1/4 in. (44.45 × 53.98 cm) Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Gift of Mrs. Olga N. Sheldon, U-3292.1973 TL2018.HOM.21.1 Fisher Folk in a Dory, 1881 Watercolor over graphite on heavy white wove paper 13 5/8 × 19 1/2 in. (34.61 × 49.53 cm) framed: 24 1/4 × 30 1/4 × 7/8 in. (61.6 × 76.84 × 2.22 cm) Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Anonymous Gift TL2018.HOM.19.9 House at a Railing with Beached Dories, Cullercoats, England, 1881 Pen and brown ink on tan laid paper 4 1/8 × 7 1/16 in. (10.48 × 17.94 cm) framed: 15 5/8 × 19 5/8 × 1 1/8 in. (39.69 × 49.85 × 2.86 cm) Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of Charles Savage Homer, Jr. 1912-12-4 TL2018.HOM.39.1 Men and Women Looking out to Sea, Cullercoats, England, 1881 Recto: graphite on heavy cream wove paper; verso: violet crayon on heavy cream wove paper 6 9/16 × 5 9/16 in. (16.67 × 14.13 cm) framed: 15 5/8 × 19 5/8 × 1 1/8 in. (39.69 × 49.85 × 2.86 cm) Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of Charles Savage Homer, Jr. 1912-12-24 TL2018.HOM.39.5 Fishermen in Oilskins, Cullercoats, England, 1881 Graphite, charcoal, white chalk on heavy beige wove paper 11 15/16 × 12 5/8 in.