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Homer learned the fundamentals of draftsmanship at the age of eighteen as an apprentice to the Boston lithographer John H. Bufford. Two years later, in 1857, he established himself as a freelance illustrator, creating original engraving compositions for Ballou’s Pictorial Drawing Room Companion and Harper’s Weekly. Homer’s role in the production of the prints was to draw the image on a block of boxwood. Engravers then carved away everything but the lines drawn on the block, using crosshatching to convey shade and modeling. Finally, the engravers inked the block to produce the print. [1]
Even at such a young age, with little formal art instruction, Homer displayed his skill at composition, creating dynamic and well-balanced images that foreshadow his later masterpieces in oil and watercolor. He even experimented with composite images, in which multiple vignettes are combined to create a rich and full narrative.
Homer often chose fashionable people engaged in modern leisure activities as the subjects for his Ballou’s and Harper’s engravings. In August in the Country—The Seashore, published in Harper’s Weekly on August 27, 1859, Homer depicts the rising popularity of seaside excursions. Seaside resorts developed in America as early as the 1820s, and magazines often touted the benefits of sea air as well as the opportunity to socialize with members of the opposite sex. The figures in this print are notably, if impractically, elegantly dressed.
In this image, stylish young women and dapper young men relax and flirt on the beach while children splash in the tidal pools. At left, a young woman seated on a dune sketches under the shade of an umbrella while her companion naps. In the middle ground, women converse, while another in the foreground reads the newspaper. Boats bob on the surf, and clouds and birds sail overhead. Even in black and white, Homer manages to convey the freshness of the weather.
Thematically, this print is related to another print by Homer in the collection of Reynolda House, May-Day in the Country. As was true of many of Homer’s early works, women take center stage in this image, reacting with cool disdain as a young man attempts to taunt them with a live lobster. The text that accompanied this image in Harper’s reads, “The scene by the sea-side—the dolce far niente—the hunt for crustacea—the hours spent in sketching the distant schooner—the delightful tête-à-têtes—are they not all written in our memories?” [2]
Notes:
[1] David Tatham, Winslow Homer and the Pictorial Press (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2003), 14.
[2] “August in Town and at the Sea-Side,” in Harper’s Weekly (August 27, 1859), 554. “Dolce far niente” literally translates as “sweet doing nothing.”
ProvenanceJoseph R. and Mary Myers, Tyro, NC [1]
Notes:
[1] Loan Agreement, object file.
Exhibition History2010
Virtue, Vice, Wisdom & Folly: The Moralizing Tradition in American Art
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (9/18/2010-12/31/2010)
Published ReferencesKushner, Marilyn S., Barbara Dayer Gallati and Linda S. Ferber. Winslow Homer: Illustrating America. New York: Brooklyn Museum of Art in association with George Braziller Publisher, 2000: 115, (cat. no. 64).
DepartmentAmerican Art
August in the Country – The Sea-Shore
Artist
Winslow Homer
(1836 - 1910)
Date1859
Mediumwood engraving
DimensionsFrame: 18 1/2 x 22 7/16 in. (47 x 57 cm)
Image: 9 1/8 x 13 3/4 in. (23.2 x 34.9 cm)
SignedW Homer DEL
Credit LineCourtesy of Joseph and Mary Myers in honor of Nicholas B. Bragg
CopyrightPublic Domain
Object number2000.2.1.b
DescriptionWinslow Homer is revered today both for the powerful and dramatic images he created as well as for his enormous technical skill in watercolor and oil. But it was another medium, engraving, in which the artist first revealed his talents.Homer learned the fundamentals of draftsmanship at the age of eighteen as an apprentice to the Boston lithographer John H. Bufford. Two years later, in 1857, he established himself as a freelance illustrator, creating original engraving compositions for Ballou’s Pictorial Drawing Room Companion and Harper’s Weekly. Homer’s role in the production of the prints was to draw the image on a block of boxwood. Engravers then carved away everything but the lines drawn on the block, using crosshatching to convey shade and modeling. Finally, the engravers inked the block to produce the print. [1]
Even at such a young age, with little formal art instruction, Homer displayed his skill at composition, creating dynamic and well-balanced images that foreshadow his later masterpieces in oil and watercolor. He even experimented with composite images, in which multiple vignettes are combined to create a rich and full narrative.
Homer often chose fashionable people engaged in modern leisure activities as the subjects for his Ballou’s and Harper’s engravings. In August in the Country—The Seashore, published in Harper’s Weekly on August 27, 1859, Homer depicts the rising popularity of seaside excursions. Seaside resorts developed in America as early as the 1820s, and magazines often touted the benefits of sea air as well as the opportunity to socialize with members of the opposite sex. The figures in this print are notably, if impractically, elegantly dressed.
In this image, stylish young women and dapper young men relax and flirt on the beach while children splash in the tidal pools. At left, a young woman seated on a dune sketches under the shade of an umbrella while her companion naps. In the middle ground, women converse, while another in the foreground reads the newspaper. Boats bob on the surf, and clouds and birds sail overhead. Even in black and white, Homer manages to convey the freshness of the weather.
Thematically, this print is related to another print by Homer in the collection of Reynolda House, May-Day in the Country. As was true of many of Homer’s early works, women take center stage in this image, reacting with cool disdain as a young man attempts to taunt them with a live lobster. The text that accompanied this image in Harper’s reads, “The scene by the sea-side—the dolce far niente—the hunt for crustacea—the hours spent in sketching the distant schooner—the delightful tête-à-têtes—are they not all written in our memories?” [2]
Notes:
[1] David Tatham, Winslow Homer and the Pictorial Press (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2003), 14.
[2] “August in Town and at the Sea-Side,” in Harper’s Weekly (August 27, 1859), 554. “Dolce far niente” literally translates as “sweet doing nothing.”
ProvenanceJoseph R. and Mary Myers, Tyro, NC [1]
Notes:
[1] Loan Agreement, object file.
Exhibition History2010
Virtue, Vice, Wisdom & Folly: The Moralizing Tradition in American Art
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (9/18/2010-12/31/2010)
Published ReferencesKushner, Marilyn S., Barbara Dayer Gallati and Linda S. Ferber. Winslow Homer: Illustrating America. New York: Brooklyn Museum of Art in association with George Braziller Publisher, 2000: 115, (cat. no. 64).
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