Winslow Homer (1836–1910) was a well-known American painter who was beloved for his magnificent depictions of Civil War scenes and seaside storms, but he was little known in Britain. In September, the National Gallery in London will hold an exhibition " Winslow Homer : Force of Nature " to tell the story of the 19th-century American landscape painter , the Paper has learned. The exhibition is the UK's first in-depth study of Homer, and the National Gallery hopes to make local audiences change their minds about the artist.
Born in Boston, USA, Homer began his career as a commercial printmaker, first working in his native Boston before coming to New York in 1859. He briefly studied oil painting in 1861. In October of the same year, he was sent to the front lines of the Virginia battlefield as a war correspondent and artist to provide illustration coverage for the newly founded Harpers Weekly. Initially, his work, like his prints, was anecdotal, and as the war approached, oil paintings such as The Veteran in a New Field and Prisoners from the Front emerged, reflecting Homer's deeper understanding of the effects of war.
Veteran Shinda, 1865
In 1866, perhaps on the basis of an opportunity to see two of his civil war paintings at the Paris World's Fair, Homer embarked on a 10-month trip to Paris and the French countryside. Although it was unlikely that he would be influenced by the members of the French avant-garde at that time, Homer and they were interested in the same subjects, and as they were, eager to incorporate outdoor light, flat and concise forms, and free brushstrokes into their works.
Christopher Riopelle, curator of the National Gallery's study of post-1800s oil painting, said, "Every American grew up with Homer's paintings. Homer went deep into the Union Army during the American Civil War, working as both an artist and a journalist, providing images for the news. He used these images in very infectious oil paintings, "which made him a person who really told the story of America in the modern world, and he was telling Americans the real America." ”
Sharpshooter, 1863
In the 1870s, laid-back women and playing children appeared frequently in Homer's paintings. In the 1970s, in addition to continuing to paint oil, Homer began working on watercolors and in 1875 gave up his job as a freelance illustrator. In the mid-'70s, he returned to Virginia, apparently to observe the new life of former slaves after the emancipation of black slaves.
The Girl with the Basket, 1882, watercolor
The Blackboard, 1877
"Daddy's Coming!" 》，1873
By the 1980s, Homer became increasingly eager to be alone and made his first trip to Britain. The exhibition will tell the story of Homer's two years at Cullercoats, a fishing village between Tynemouth in Whitley Bay, England. In 1881, Homer, in his 40s, came to Korla Court, and we will never know exactly why he got there. One version of the story says that he met a man on a ship from the United States to Liverpool, who told him that there was such a place on the North Sea that had become a colony for artists, and he should go and have a look.
《拖渔网》（Hauling in the Nets），1887
"I'm not sure the story is entirely credible," Said Río Pell, "he's looking for heroic images of modern life, and I think someone told him there was a crew of lifesavers in the North Sea." He followed his intuition to find the heroism he was looking for. Whenever there was an emergency at sea at night, Homer would go out to watch the emergency crew go out and observe the stormy women on the beach. He felt the tough and courageous way of life of the local people, especially the women, who depicted in his paintings how they dragged fish ashore, cleaned them, repaired their nets, and waited on the shore for the return of their husbands.
《Casting, Number Two》, 1894
Homer painted many small sketches of what he saw, mainly in watercolors. "What's fascinating about Kulrock is that when Homer left, those images still didn't die," Mr. Rory said, "and when he got back to the United States, he kept thinking about them." "Kullercourt's experiences influenced him and his art. Critics were quick to notice a change in Homer's style. In Life Line (1884), Mr. Ríopel said, you can see that Kurlercott appeared in large drawings. "Kurlercott showed him how to find fables in modern life." Rio Pell introduced.
The exhibition will include some of Homer's most important paintings from Kurlercourt, as well as works that emerge directly from this experience. These include Gale (1883), which shows a single woman on the coast wearing a shawl surrounded by the wind.
The Wild Wind, 1883
When the painting was first unveiled at the Royal Academy of Arts, it contained more details, including a ship. Later, "he stripped away these anecdotal details and cut the picture down to the woman who was facing the storm." He wants to get to the essence of things. ”
Another Korlecourt painting in the exhibition, Inside the Bar, was made in 1883 on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which was also co-curated by the exhibition. Other highlights include Sharphooter (1863) from the Portland Museum of Art in Maine, and Gulf Stream (1899), which is loaned from the Met.
In the Bar, 1883
Gulfstream, 1899
Today, there are no Homer's works in any British collection. A few years ago the National Gallery of Art tried to obtain a painting of him depicting Korlecourt, but eventually it was flown. "We were completely defeated because Homer was clearly a giant of America."
Throughout his life, Homer was gladly treated as a taciturn "Yankee," and much of his writings were speculative. "When you're writing about him, you're faced with an impossible job because he doesn't say anything," Says Río Pell, "no manuscripts, no letters, nothing." ”
Key West, Pulling the Anchor, 1903
In the summer of 1883, Homer came to the Narrow Bay of Proust, Maine, where, apart from some travels, he lived there until his death. Homer enjoys solitude and is inspired by loneliness and silence to create some of the most important thematic paintings of his career: the confrontation between man and the sea, the fragile and fleeting relationship between human life and eternal nature. By around 1890, Homer had abandoned narrative to focus on the beauty, power, and drama of the ocean itself. In the expressive compositions there, Homer's seascape paintings of his later years capture the appearance and even sound of the sea as the sea rises and recedes. For Homer's contemporaries, it was the most spectacular part of his work. To this day, people still admire his skillful brushstrokes, the depth of his feelings, and the signs of modernist abstraction.
"Winslow Homer: The Forces of Nature" will be on display at the National Museum from 10 September 2022.
(This article is compiled based on relevant reports in The Guardian, the National Gallery of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York)