Lot Essay
In 1873, Winslow Homer spent his first summer in Gloucester, Massachusetts painting scenes in and around the harbor and town. The body of work produced from this period, images of both young boys and girls, in groups or alone, engaged in leisurely activities in the rural countryside, have become regarded as quintessential Homer subjects. His works from this period not only reflect the artist's innate and sophisticated handling of color and preoccupation with outdoor light, but they transcend mere images of children at play to represent the human condition in the years following the Civil War. These intrinsic qualities find direct expression in the present work, Whittling Boy, painted that year.
Prominent stylistic elements common to works of this period are Homer's instinctual choice of color and a relentless fascination with natural light, characteristics clearly illustrated in Whittling Boy. The artist creates the boy's surroundings with sweeps and jolts of varying greens affected by differing intensities of the warm afternoon summer light. Fallen through the vegetation is an aged tree trunk whose crags and niches are defined by Homer's deft handling of different tones of brown. The boy and his broad-brimmed straw hat, composed of keenly chosen tones of yellow and brown, illustrate most succinctly his virtuosity in portraying natural light.
Whittling Boy further reflects the state of the country's mind during the years following the Civil War. This period was considered to be the most turbulent and confusing in American history as the devastating impact of the Civil War coupled with burgeoning technology and a rapidly growing industrialized environment generated strong feelings of disorientation. As a much more complex and progressive way of life emerged, there developed a prevailing sentiment in Victorian society toward capturing a lost innocence which manifested in a preoccupation with children and youth.
Tÿhe world of a child, untouched by the atrocities of technology or the evils of war, was most clearly articulated in American literature and art. Famous novels such as Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer or Louisa May Alcott's Little Women offered readers an escape from their contemporary environment to a simple, innocent world of youth exisitng in harmony with their environment. Winslow Homer's images of children poignantly illustrate the elements that society so eagerly wanted to recapture. In Whittling Boy, Homer magnificently encapsulates the sense of quietude, joy, optimism and harmony in the image of a boy whittling in a wood clearing.
The escape Homer provides his viewers from the harsh realities of contemporary life in Whittling Boy is not unlike the world he creates in works depicting Gloucester Harbor, such as Three Boys in a Dory (Christie's, May 1992), which depicts younger boys lobstering, a subject he painted frequently during this period. Alternative to the calm and isolated world created by the sea, detached from the ugly, urÿban environment, Whittling Boy offers a similar escape. With one figure set in a simple environment, Homer, through his ingenious use of color and incredible command of light, creates an icon representing harmony, innocence and hope.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming Spanierman Gallery/CUNY/Goodrich/Whitney catalogue raisonné of the works of Winslow Homer being compiled by Abigail Booth Gerdts.
Prominent stylistic elements common to works of this period are Homer's instinctual choice of color and a relentless fascination with natural light, characteristics clearly illustrated in Whittling Boy. The artist creates the boy's surroundings with sweeps and jolts of varying greens affected by differing intensities of the warm afternoon summer light. Fallen through the vegetation is an aged tree trunk whose crags and niches are defined by Homer's deft handling of different tones of brown. The boy and his broad-brimmed straw hat, composed of keenly chosen tones of yellow and brown, illustrate most succinctly his virtuosity in portraying natural light.
Whittling Boy further reflects the state of the country's mind during the years following the Civil War. This period was considered to be the most turbulent and confusing in American history as the devastating impact of the Civil War coupled with burgeoning technology and a rapidly growing industrialized environment generated strong feelings of disorientation. As a much more complex and progressive way of life emerged, there developed a prevailing sentiment in Victorian society toward capturing a lost innocence which manifested in a preoccupation with children and youth.
Tÿhe world of a child, untouched by the atrocities of technology or the evils of war, was most clearly articulated in American literature and art. Famous novels such as Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer or Louisa May Alcott's Little Women offered readers an escape from their contemporary environment to a simple, innocent world of youth exisitng in harmony with their environment. Winslow Homer's images of children poignantly illustrate the elements that society so eagerly wanted to recapture. In Whittling Boy, Homer magnificently encapsulates the sense of quietude, joy, optimism and harmony in the image of a boy whittling in a wood clearing.
The escape Homer provides his viewers from the harsh realities of contemporary life in Whittling Boy is not unlike the world he creates in works depicting Gloucester Harbor, such as Three Boys in a Dory (Christie's, May 1992), which depicts younger boys lobstering, a subject he painted frequently during this period. Alternative to the calm and isolated world created by the sea, detached from the ugly, urÿban environment, Whittling Boy offers a similar escape. With one figure set in a simple environment, Homer, through his ingenious use of color and incredible command of light, creates an icon representing harmony, innocence and hope.
This painting will be included in the forthcoming Spanierman Gallery/CUNY/Goodrich/Whitney catalogue raisonné of the works of Winslow Homer being compiled by Abigail Booth Gerdts.