Realism, Pre-Impressionism, Pre-Raphaelites and Impressionism, Post-Impressionism

Winslow Homer

Winslow Homer was an American painter. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1836. He had a variety of subject matters throughout his career and had skills in both watercolour and oil painting. He enjoyed travelling which impacted the style and subject matter of his work.

In his early life, Homer worked at a commercial lithographer apprenticeship and had an illustrative freelance career. He took classes at the National Academy of Design where he learned to paint. His American Civil War studies and paintings of everyday camp life were exhibited at the National Academy where he became a full Academician in 1865. His mastery and techniques of painting were recognized by critics.

In 1873 Homer continued to master oil painting but he also started working in watercolour. His subjects of painting were farm life, children playing, or woman at leisure. Critics were mixed on his watercolours, yet they were still “popular and endearing”

In 1880 Homer became increasingly antisocial and moved to England in 1881. He moved to Cullercoats, a fishing port. He was inspired by the heroic natured life of the fisherfolk. He often painted hardworking women of the town doing daily tasks such as mending nets or hauling and cleaning fish. This was a contrast to his previous work that depicted woman at leisure, his art showed that the woman were “fearless” and “fully capable of enduring forces alongside men”

In 1883 he returned to America and moved to Protus Neck, a fishing village where he continued to paint the relationship between people and the sea. He was interested and painted fishers and their experience against the overwhelming power and force of the sea

In the 1890s Homer began to concentrate on the “beauty, force and drama of the sea” These works were the most admired and famous due to the feelings the paintings created. He was known as one of the greatest American painters during his time but a true appreciation for his art did not come until after his he died.

I enjoy this artist due to the subject matter of the sea since I also admire its beauty, strength and how deadly it can be. I also enjoy the paintings with sharks and fish in them and the colours he uses in his paintings.

Sources

https://www.winslow-homer.com/

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/homr/hd_homr.htm

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Winslow-Homer

Here’s my desktop background of waves and my shark desk top buddy which I thought related to the theme of his work.