Contemplating Homer

On Guard - 1864


Homer (the painter, not the poet)
is at the Art Institute for the next few months,
so here's a record of my first visit
(and maybe my last -- if it keeps being so crowded)

Above,
is the first painting that grabbed me,
and if Homer had stopped there,
he would have accomplished enough for me.

He was 28 when did that oil,
with plenty of experience in
narrative engraving for magazines,
but not many paintings
(at least that have survived)

Wow.
A dark, somewhat foreboding foreground,
but beyond it,
the peaceful contemplation of boundless opportunity.
The land - the sky - the young life- the stillness
everything is possible - and delicious!

And what a sky!

("what a day for a daydream,
custom made for a daydreamin' boy")







There's a lot of Homer that doesn't send me.
I don't care for his clean little calvary charges,
or for most of his solitary figures.
Yes -- I get the point -- he's lonely.
Those figures usually have little sense of volume
and they feel cut-and-pasted onto their background.

The one shown above,
is the only one I liked.

(apparently -around 1880 he took
a long trip to England
where he saw the seascapes of Turner --
with their inclusion of multiple figures.
This set him out in a new direction,
but I don't think he was very good at it)







Homer also had this thing for studious young women,
especially school teachers.
(actually -- those are the paintings of his
that I remember the most,
especially that one inside a school house --
and unfortunately, these were not included
in this exhibit)



Sunset at Gloucester - 1880




But then we have the seascapes !



Sunset Fires, 1880

Especially this one -- I screamed when I saw it.


Prout's Neck Evening - 1894 (M.A.R.)

And the bleakness !
Oh -- I love bleakness


Breaking storm - 1894 (M.A.R.)

I just can't get enough of these shimmering
but dreary scenes
(though his birds are just annoying,
he needs to work on that some more)



Sunset and Shade - 1894 (M.A.R.)


Is there a better poet of bleakness ?
(i.e -- a bleakness that's enjoyable)



West Point - 1900


And here's a really big one,
done in oils this time,
and a bit more dramatic,
almost like some kind of battle scene.

In person,
that big cloud of spray
really shimmers.



After the Hurricane, 1899 (M.A.R.)

Like many American artists of his time (and after)
Homer liked to paint in scenic spots
and I'm really glad he went to the Bahamas,
as it opened up a whole different world of feeling.

He's doing a lot better with these figures, too




Water fan - 1898

He treating his figures more like elements of design
and less like actors on a small stage.






Stowing Sail -1903 (M.A.R.)

Homer makes a point of telling us that he painted this
on-site
in one afternoon
(no re-working back at the studio)

What an exciting,
quick painting !

I stand in awe.









Interrupted - 1892 (M.A.R.)



Then - he's back in the Adirondacks,
and he feels like a Thoreau,
out in nature,
all by himself.

Can you hear the wind blowing through the trees ?









Waiting for the start - 1889


This was his only painting of dogs in the show,
but I think he could have dominated this genre
if he wanted to.

How can you see this arrangement,
not begin to laugh
at all that canine anticipation ?



Rowing Home - 1890

Here's what Duncan Phillips,
the uber-collector
who founded a modern museum in Washington DC
had to say about this painting in his collection:


"Winslow Homer...was unconscious of pure aesthetic inscription when, instinctively, he laid on those suggestive darks over that luminous expanse … The ripples of water in the wake of the oars required a quick simplification of brush stroke. Quickly he wrote it down, just as he saw it. That is the modern as it differs from the ancient calligraphy."


Maybe that's why I like it so much,
and mostly prefer Homer's later work.



note 1: The National Gallery presents a really nice pictorial chronology
here
(and take a closer look at the one from 1899,
how I wish that one had traveled to Chicago)


note 2: It turns out that most of my favorites items from this exhibit came
from the collection of the A.I.C.'s great benefactor,
Martin A. Ryerson (1856-1932)
and they have been noted above with the initials: M.A.R.

The role of the wise collector in the history of art
cannot be exaggerated,
and you'll note that Ryerson was born just 18 years after Homer.