Winslow Homer (1836-1910)
- Winslow Homer (1836-1910)
- Fishing, 1878
- Charcoal and watercolor on paper
- 8 13/16 x 10 9/16 inches
- Signed lower right, “W.H.”
- PROVENANCE:
- John G. Pierce, Milton, Massachusetts, n.d.
- Mrs. John G. Pierce, Milton, Massachusetts, by bequest, n.d.
- Fessenden School, Newton, Massachusetts, by gift, c. 1960
- John Nicholson Gallery, 1967
- Private Collection, n.d. ACA Galleries, n.d.
- Herbert A. Goldstone, New York, n.d. ACA Galleries, 1998
- William Vareika Fine Arts, Ltd., Newport, Rhode Island, 1999
- Private Collection, 2002
- Private Collection, 2007 (sold: Sotheby’s, New York, May 23, 2007; sale 8322, lot no. 5)
Drawn in New York on a farm in Hempstead, Long Island, Fishing is the source for one of Homer’s mid-career watercolors of the same title and year, which he later translated into the oil painting, Fishin’ of 1879. Though prior to the 1870s Homer had employed the watercolor medium only intermittently, the year of 1873 marked a turning point in his use of the medium. From this point, works in watercolor suddenly came to encompass the majority of his output, and the following year marked Homer's first exhibition at the American Society of Painters in Watercolors; shortly thereafter, he became a full member.
