Portrait of Winslow Homer

Winslow Homer Painting Reproductions 1 of 4

1836-1910

American Realist Painter

Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 - September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter, most famous for his marines. Largely self-taught, he is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America, and a preeminent figure in American art.
Early life
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Homer was apprenticed to a Boston commercial lithographer at the age of 19. By 1857 his freelance illustration career was underway and he contributed to magazines such as Ballou's Pictorial and Harper's Weekly. His early works, mostly commercial engravings, are characterized by clean outlines, simplified forms, dramatic contrast of light and dark, and lively figure groupings - qualities that remained important throughout his career.
In 1859 he opened a studio in New York City, and began his painting career. Harper's sent Homer to the front lines of the American Civil War (1861 - 1865), where he sketched battle scenes and mundane camp life. His initial sketches were of the camp and army of the famous Union officer, Major General George B. McClellan at the banks of the Potomac River in October, 1861. Although the drawings did not get much attention at the time, they mark Homer's transition from illustrator to painter. Back at his studio after the war, Homer set to work on a series of war-related paintings, among them Sharpshooter on Picket Duty, and Prisoners from the Front, which is noted for its objectivity and realism.
Early landscapes
After exhibiting at the National Academy of Design, Homer traveled to Paris, France in 1867 where he remained for a year. He practiced landscape painting while continuing to work for Harper's. Though his interest in depicting natural light parallels that of the impressionists, there is no evidence of direct influence.
Throughout the 1870s he painted mostly rural or idyllic scenes of farm life, children playing, and young adults courting. Homer gained acclaim as a painter in the late 1870s and early 1880s. His 1872 composition, Snap-the-Whip, was exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Homer was a member of the The Tile Club, a group of artists and writers who met frequently to exchange ideas and organize outings for painting. Homer's nickname in The Tile Club was The Obtuse Bard. Other well known Tilers were painters William Merritt Chase, Arthur Quartley, and the sculptor Augustus Saint Gaudens.
In 1873 Homer started painting with watercolours. His impact on the medium would be revolutionary. Homer's watercolor paintings exhibit a fresh, spontaneous, loose, yet natural style. Thereafter, he seldom travelled without paper, brushes and water based paints. Homer once remarked, "You will see, in the future, I will live by my watercolors".
England
In 1875 Homer quit working as a commercial illustrator. He travelled widely, spending two years (1881 - 1882) in the English coastal village of Cullercoats, Northumberland, where he rekindled his boyhood interest in the sea, and painted the local fisherfolk. Many of the paintings at Cullercoats took as their subjects young women mending nets or looking out to sea; they are imbued with a solidity, sobriety, and earthy heroism which was new to Homer's art, and they presage the direction of his future work.
Maine and maturity
Back in the U.S., he moved to Prout's Neck, Maine (in Scarborough) and painted the seascapes for which he is best known. Notable among these dramatic struggle-with-nature images are Banks Fisherman, Eight Bells, The Gulf Stream, Rum Cay, Mending the Nets, and Searchlight, Harbor Entrance, Santiago de Cuba. Although Homer never taught, these works strongly influenced succeeding generations of American painters for their direct and energetic interpretation of man's stoic relationship to an often neutral and sometimes harsh wilderness (See Lost on the Grand Banks, collection of Bill Gates). Robert Henri called Homer's work an "integrity of nature". (Robert Henri, The Art Spirit, HarperCollins, 1984).
In the winter Homer ventured to warmer locations in Florida, Cuba, and the Bahamas. Additionally he found inspiration in a number of summer trips to the North Woods Club, near the hamlet of Minerva, New York in the Adirondack Mountains. It was on these fishing vacations that he experimented freely with the watercolor medium, producing works of the utmost vigor and subtlety, hymns to solitude.
Homer died at the age of 74 in his Prout's Neck studio and was interred in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His painting, Shoot the Rapids, remains unfinished.

93 Winslow Homer Paintings

By the Shore, c.1870 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

By the Shore c.1870

Oil Painting
$624
SKU: HOM-3852
Winslow Homer
Original Size: unknown
Private Collection

Portrait of Albert Post, 1866 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

Portrait of Albert Post 1866

Oil Painting
$679
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5561
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 31.8 x 26.7 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

The Veteran in a New Field, 1865 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

The Veteran in a New Field 1865

Oil Painting
$945
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5562
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 61.3 x 96.8 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Early Morning after Storm at Sea, 1902 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

Early Morning after Storm at Sea 1902

Oil Painting
$926
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5568
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 76.8 x 127 cm
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA

The Gulf Stream, 1899 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

The Gulf Stream 1899

Oil Painting
$1014
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5569
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 71.4 x 124.8 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

High Cliff, Coast of Maine, 1894 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

High Cliff, Coast of Maine 1894

Oil Painting
$945
Canvas Print
$59.50
SKU: HOM-5570
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 76.5 x 97 cm
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, USA

The Fog Warning, 1885 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

The Fog Warning 1885

Oil Painting
$1003
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5571
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 76.8 x 123.2 cm
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts, USA

Gloucester, Mackerel Fleet at Dawn, 1884 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

Gloucester, Mackerel Fleet at Dawn 1884

Oil Painting
$663
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5572
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 39.7 x 95.9 cm
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts, USA

Gloucester, Mackerel Fleet at Sunset, 1884 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

Gloucester, Mackerel Fleet at Sunset 1884

Oil Painting
$657
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5573
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 39.7 x 95.9 cm
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts, USA

The Cotton Pickers, 1876 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

The Cotton Pickers 1876

Oil Painting
$1246
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5574
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 61 x 96.8 cm
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California, USA

The Four-Leaf Clover, 1873 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

The Four-Leaf Clover 1873

Oil Painting
$981
SKU: HOM-5575
Winslow Homer
Original Size: unknown
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, USA

The Dinner Horn, 1873 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

The Dinner Horn 1873

Oil Painting
$718
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5576
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 30.2 x 36.2 cm
Detroit Institute of Arts, Michigan, USA

Rocky Coast and Gulls, 1869 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

Rocky Coast and Gulls 1869

Oil Painting
$646
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5577
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 41.3 x 71.5 cm
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts, USA

Prisoners from the Front, 1866 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

Prisoners from the Front 1866

Oil Painting
$1254
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5578
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 61 x 96.5 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Croquet Scene, 1866 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

Croquet Scene 1866

Oil Painting
$829
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5579
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 40.3 x 66.2 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, USA

The Bright Side, 1865 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

The Bright Side 1865

Oil Painting
$891
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5580
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 32.4 x 43.2 cm
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California, USA

Croquet Players, 1865 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

Croquet Players 1865

Oil Painting
$1103
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5581
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 40.6 x 66 cm
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, USA

The Briarwood Pipe, 1864 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

The Briarwood Pipe 1864

Oil Painting
$948
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-5582
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 42.8 x 37.5 cm
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio, USA

Playing Old Soldier, 1863 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

Playing Old Soldier 1863

Oil Painting
$1138
SKU: HOM-5583
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 40.6 x 30.5 cm
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Massachusetts, USA

The Herring Net, 1885 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

The Herring Net 1885

Oil Painting
$906
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-8307
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 76.5 x 123 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois, USA

Dressing for the Carnival, 1877 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

Dressing for the Carnival 1877

Oil Painting
$1053
Canvas Print
$50.23
SKU: HOM-15732
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 50.8 x 76.2 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Cannon Rock, 1895 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

Cannon Rock 1895

Oil Painting
$926
Canvas Print
$75.42
SKU: HOM-15733
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 101.6 x 101.6 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Camp Fire, 1880 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

Camp Fire 1880

Oil Painting
$913
Canvas Print
$50.22
SKU: HOM-15734
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 60.3 x 96.8 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Eagle Head, Manchester, Massachusetts (High Tide), 1870 by Winslow Homer | Painting Reproduction

Eagle Head, Manchester, Massachusetts (High Tide) 1870

Oil Painting
$1005
Canvas Print
$51.20
SKU: HOM-15735
Winslow Homer
Original Size: 66 x 96.5 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Top