#After the Hurricane Bahamas by Winslow Homer

[cjjasp]

#FineArtFriday: revisiting After the Hurricane, Bahamas by Winslow Homer (and hurricane relief)

Artist: Winslow Homer (1836–1910) Title: After the Hurricane Date: 1899 Medium: Transparent watercolor, with touches of opaque watercolor, rewetting, blotting and scraping, over graphite, on moderately thick, moderately textured (twill texture on verso), ivory wove paper. Dimensions: Height: 38 cm (14.9 in); Width: 54.3 cm (21.3 in) Inscriptions: Signature and date bottom left: Homer 99 Current…

[life-imitates-art-far-more]

Winslow Homer (1836-1910) "After the Hurricane, Bahamas" (1899) Watercolor and graphite on paper Realism Located in the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States

[oldsardens]

Winslow Homer - After the Hurricane, Bahamas

[proartsblog]

Winslow Homer (1836-1910). After the Hurricane, Bahamas. 1899

#19 centure

[cooperhewitt]

Blood in the Water

Related to his trip to the Bahamas, this watercolor by Winslow Homer is a study for The Gulf Stream, a painting in which a shipwrecked man lies on a battered fishing boat as sharks circle in the water.  Focusing on the boat, this watercolor sets the stage for the action of the final scene.  The mast is broken, and brightly colored sugarcane is strewn across the deck as the hull tilts below the water.

Homer continued to work and rework the final painting for years, adding details between exhibitions.[1]  He began his career as an illustrator, and his work often has a legible narrative. When someone asked for an explanation of The Gulf Stream, the artist was clearly irked:

I regret very much that I have painted a picture that requires any description. The subject of the picture is comprised in its title…I have crossed the Gulf Stream ten times & I should know something about it. The boat & sharks are outside matters of very little consequence.[2]

Homer’s letter goes on to note that the figure has been blown out to sea by a hurricane.  Concerned viewers can be reassured that he “will be rescued & returned to his friends and home & ever after live happily.”[3]

Homer’s piqued response underscores the significance of the water.  The Gulf Stream is a warm, swift current in the Atlantic Ocean that starts in the Gulf of Mexico and follows the eastern coastline of the United States.  Hurricanes traveling over the warmer waters can gain strength, explaining the rough seas and the damage to the boat. The study at Cooper Hewitt emphasizes the direct effects of the storm as the vessel lists ominously.  Animated brushwork layers transparent blue washes, suggesting deep, churning waters. In the distance, bursts of spray punctuate the cresting waves.

Related watercolors now at the Brooklyn Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago show the entire length of the boat with sharks below.  Here, the close-cropped scene creates a more open-ended narrative. We are left to wonder what happened to the crew, or if we are in the place of someone thrown into the water. An ominous streak of reddish-brown appears in the upper left—perhaps suggesting blood.

In 1906, The Gulf Stream made headlines when it became the first painting by Winslow Homer to enter the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection. So, after the artist’s death in 1910, why didn’t his family try to reunite this study with the finished painting?  Charles Savage Homer, Jr., and his wife Mattie used to play bridge with the Hewitt sisters and would have heard glowing reports about their fledgling museum.[4]  Homer’s elder brother and the sole heir to the artist’s archive of unsold works, Charles decided to give Cooper Hewitt more than 300 of Homer’s drawings and watercolors in 1912.  Eleanor Hewitt later explained the museum’s interest collecting the “first conception of numerous well-known pictures,” noting that studying an artist’s process provided valuable instruction for students.[5] Cooper Hewitt now has one of the largest collections of Homer’s work in the country.

Laura Fravel is the Curatorial Research Assistant (American Art) in the Drawings, Prints & Graphic Design Department at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

[1] For a detailed account of the painting’s exhibition history and Homer’s revisions, see Lloyd Goodrich & Abigail Booth Gerdts, Record of Works by Winslow Homer, Volume V, 1890 through 1910 (New York, NY: The Goodrich-Homer Art Education Project), no. 1686, pp. 285-290.

[2] Winslow Homer, Scarborough, Maine, letter to M. Knoedler & Co., New York, NY, February 19, 1902. See Artists’ Letters and Manuscripts, Box 4, Folder 2. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Gail S. Davidson, “Eliot Clark and the American Drawings Collection at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum,” Archives of American Art Journal, Vol. 34, No. 4 (1994), p. 8.

[5] Eleanor G. Hewitt, The Making of a Modern Museum, written for the Wednesday Afternoon Club (1919), p. 17.

from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum https://ift.tt/2STHw6X via IFTTT

[j0shripley]

Piece Comparison

Josh Ripley

Comparative Critique

Identify: The first piece I chose to critique and then compare is After the Hurricane, Bahamas by Winslow Homer. It was made in 1899, and as we can see, it is a water color piece. From the initial perspective of its audience, we can tell that there is a black man next to the remnants of some type of ship. You can see in the background, what looks like storm clouds based on Homer's use of colors. What is also apparent at first glance is the island in the background, the fronds on the palm tree seem to be bending in an unnatural direction due to the strong winds from the tropical storm. The man in the foreground seems to be unconscious, it can only be assumed that he was caught in the storm on his boat and got shipwrecked after the battering of the waves.

Analyze: Since this is a Winslow Homer piece we can tell that it falls under the category of style of “Realism.” I love the contrast of colors found between the deep blues of the sea and the paleness of the sand. He creates a wide sense of space in the piece with the distant view of the neighboring island and the perspective of the boat next to him. Seeing the tail end of the small vessel with what looks like an anchor broken behind him creates a strong balance with the tones used between the sand and the storm. Included with the tones used in that retrospect, we can see that the man lays in sunlight, as if he has already endured the storm and now lays in exhaustion and recovery. You see the color shift halfway through the water used in the piece, it moves from a lightened shallow blue to a harshly deep and vigorous tempest continuing to wreak havoc on the sea behind him. With his medium, it must be noted the amount of detail Homer was able to portray on the young man lying in the sand. You can make out muscle definition as well as his hairline and eyelids. With the chaos taking place in the foreground, the lines drawn from the rear end of his boat pull your eyes to the cause of the destruction, the hurricane.

Interpret: The emotional appeal of this painting can be found mostly through the use of light. As stated in my analysis, you can tell that the young man seems to be laying in the sun. In contrast from the storm found in the background of the painting, there is a sense of peace that accompanies the beach from the still imagery as he lays there recovering. It’s as if Homer was trying to give us a sense that there is always a calm after a storm, no matter how battered we get during the tempests in our lives, we will always have a time to recover and gain our strength back.

Judgement: I like this art piece, I mean if I didn’t I wouldn’t of chosen to critique it. But some of my favorite parts of this piece are the subtle uses of vibrant colors to keep the naked eye appealed. Like with the greens of the grass, or the wave found just at the peak of the boat. I think it adds a much needed lightness to the painting. I also really like the detail Homer was able to bring in with the sea foliage on the shore as well as the attention to detail he made with the young man. You can see his muscle definition and that he seems to be unconscious.

Identify: The second piece I chose to critique and then compare is Sergeant Carney and the Death of General Shaw by Hale Aspacio Woodruff. Created in 1942, this modern art piece is a work of tempera on masonite. This piece was created for a program that was supposed to demonstrate the heroism of African-Americans in a building being built in Washington DC. We can see Sergeant Carney displayed in this painting holding the recently shot General shaw during the civil war. We can see a lot of chaos taking place in the painting but the lines that can be drawn from General Shaws body give us a sense of direction to navigate the piece. What is also very apparent is the state of the soldiers they are fighting with. They have bandages and wraps, but continue to press forward undeterred as their fellow soldiers continue to fall next to them.

Analysis: Some notable elements found in this painting include Woodruff’s use of color, lines, space, and perspective. The colors he uses are vibrant and anyone who knows anything about US history can tell that this is taking place from the view of the union side of the war. You can vaguely see the confederacy grey used on the soldiers in the background. The perspective takes place on the front lines of the union side but with the small windows taking place by the fallen soldiers, you can see the use of space and depth used in the piece. The lines drawn from General Shaw's arms and legs draw an easy and attractive path for the viewers eyes to follow. His bent knee pulls you to the expression on his face and notice the holder of his corpse, Sergeant Carney. His outstretched hand helps us see the cause of his demise, the opposing soldiers getting ready to advance.

Interpret: The mood of this painting becomes more apparent as we become aware of the history behind the prompt for the piece in the beginning. It is meant to display heroism. The african-american holding the general displays a sense of compassion that seems to be lacking from the rest of the painting. Other comrades lay fallen on these 2 mens sides but you can see that there was a respect noted of the general in the middle. Understanding this, Sergeant Carney catches him and lays him down as he readies to take a more influential part of the battle and push forward to make sure this man's death wasn’t in vain. They continue to fight for civil liberty and freedom.

Judgement: I love this piece of art. The vibrancy of the color and the many subjects in the painting add a depth that really speaks to me. There are many things about the painting that aren’t immediately noticeable, but the longer you look at it the more you see. Like the broken staff of the flag being held by the wounded soldier, or the difference in apparel held by the union side, or the subtle reds that add a balance to the many blues used in the foreground. This piece arouses strong emotions and is very well done, I wouldn’t change anything about it.

Comparison of the two paintings:

The main differences of the paintings comes from the mediums and art styles. Both invoke an abundance of thought on the perspective. The first piece being a realism piece done about 50 years before the latter. The other one being a work of tempera on masonite in comparison to Homer’s watercolor. Woodruff’s painting holds a different use of color than Homer’s, He uses more vibrant colors throughout the piece and his space is much more crowded. It is easier to feel the calm surrounding Homer’s piece rather than Woodruff’s because of the amount of space used and the gradiance in the light. Overall, I appreciate both pieces and although they portray different messages, and take very different approaches, I enjoy analyzing both of them.

Works Cited

“Sergeant Carney and the Death of General Shaw - Hale Woodruff - Google Arts & Culture.” Google, Google, https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/sergeant-carney-and-the-death-of-general-shaw-hale-woodruff/SAG9gnXJ98uAEw.

Homer, Winslow. “After the Hurricane, Bahamas.” The Art Institute of Chicago, Prints and Drawings, 1 Jan. 1899, https://www.artic.edu/artworks/16776/after-the-hurricane-bahamas.

[thewondermentofillustration]

Winslow Homer - After the Hurricane, Bahamas, 1899, watercolour Winslow Homer (1836-1910) is an American landscape and seascape painter and printmaker. He is mostly self taught. Homer began his career as a comercial artist. He worked as an artist correspondent during the American Civil War. Homer loved to paint marine subjects.

[influere]

“After the Hurricane, Bahamas”

--Winslow Homer

[cjjasp]

#FineArtFriday: After the Hurricane, Bahamas by Winslow Homer, reprise

#FineArtFriday: After the Hurricane, Bahamas by Winslow Homer, reprise

Artist: Winslow Homer (1836–1910) Title: After the Hurricane Date: 1899 Medium: Transparent watercolor, with touches of opaque watercolor, rewetting, blotting and scraping, over graphite, on moderately thick, moderately textured (twill texture on verso), ivory wove paper. Dimensions: Height: 38 cm (14.9 in); Width: 54.3 cm (21.3 in) Inscriptions: Signature and date bottom left: Homer 99 Current…

[cjjasp]

Weather, a central component of world building #amwriting

Weather, a central component of world building #amwriting

Whether you write literary fiction, epic fantasy, historical fiction, or any other genre, you must carefully construct the environment your novel is set in. The weather is a constant in our lives and affects how we dress, how we travel, and what we eat. Therefore, it is a central component of world building. How does the weather come into play in your novel?

If your novel’s setting is a low-tech…

[cjjasp]

#FineArtFriday: After the Hurricane, Bahamas by Winslow Homer

#FineArtFriday: After the Hurricane, Bahamas by Winslow Homer

After the Hurricane, Bahamas is a watercolor painting by American artist, Winslow Homer. It shows a man washed up on the beach after a storm, surrounded by the fragments of his shattered boat. The wreckage of the boat gives evidence of the severity of powerful hurricane, which is retreating. Black clouds still billow but recede into the distance, and sunlight has begun to filter through the…

[cooperhewitt]

Blood in the Water

Author: Laura Fravel

Related to his trip to the Bahamas, this watercolor by Winslow Homer is a study for The Gulf Stream, a painting in which a shipwrecked man lies on a battered fishing boat as sharks circle in the water. Focusing on the boat, this watercolor sets the stage for the action of the final scene. The mast is broken, and brightly colored sugarcane is strewn across the deck as the hull tilts below the water.

Homer continued to work and rework the final painting for years, adding details between exhibitions.[1] He began his career as an illustrator, and his work often has a legible narrative. When someone asked for an explanation of The Gulf Stream, the artist was clearly irked:

I regret very much that I have painted a picture that requires any description. The subject of the picture is comprised in its title…I have crossed the Gulf Stream ten times & I should know something about it. The boat & sharks are outside matters of very little consequence.[2]

Homer’s letter goes on to note that the figure has been blown out to sea by a hurricane. Concerned viewers can be reassured that he “will be rescued & returned to his friends and home & ever after live happily.”[3]

Homer’s piqued response underscores the significance of the water. The Gulf Stream is a warm, swift current in the Atlantic Ocean that starts in the Gulf of Mexico and follows the eastern coastline of the United States. Hurricanes traveling over the warmer waters can gain strength, explaining the rough seas and the damage to the boat. The study at Cooper Hewitt emphasizes the direct effects of the storm as the vessel lists ominously. Animated brushwork layers transparent blue washes, suggesting deep, churning waters. In the distance, bursts of spray punctuate the cresting waves.

Related watercolors now at the Brooklyn Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago show the entire length of the boat with sharks below. Here, the close-cropped scene creates a more open-ended narrative. We are left to wonder what happened to the crew, or if we are in the place of someone thrown into the water. An ominous streak of reddish-brown appears in the upper left—perhaps suggesting blood.

In 1906, The Gulf Stream made headlines when it became the first painting by Winslow Homer to enter the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection. So, after the artist’s death in 1910, why didn’t his family try to reunite this study with the finished painting? Charles Savage Homer, Jr., and his wife Mattie used to play bridge with the Hewitt sisters and would have heard glowing reports about their fledgling museum.[4] Homer’s elder brother and the sole heir to the artist’s archive of unsold works, Charles decided to give Cooper Hewitt more than 300 of Homer’s drawings and watercolors in 1912. Eleanor Hewitt later explained the museum’s interest in collecting the “first conception of numerous well-known pictures,” noting that studying an artist’s process provided valuable instruction for students.[5] Cooper Hewitt now has one of the largest collections of Homer’s work in the country.

Laura Fravel is the Curatorial Research Assistant (American Art) in the Drawings, Prints & Graphic Design Department at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

[1] For a detailed account of the painting’s exhibition history and Homer’s revisions, see Lloyd Goodrich & Abigail Booth Gerdts, Record of Works by Winslow Homer, Volume V, 1890 through 1910 (New York, NY: The Goodrich-Homer Art Education Project), no. 1686, pp. 285-290.

[2] Winslow Homer, Scarborough, Maine, letter to M. Knoedler & Co., New York, NY, February 19, 1902. See Artists’ Letters and Manuscripts, Box 4, Folder 2. Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Gail S. Davidson, “Eliot Clark and the American Drawings Collection at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum,” Archives of American Art Journal, Vol. 34, No. 4 (1994), p. 8.

[5] Eleanor G. Hewitt, The Making of a Modern Museum, written for the Wednesday Afternoon Club (1919), p. 17.

from Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum https://ift.tt/32zTMgh via IFTTT