WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910)
WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910)
WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910)
WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910)
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WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910)

Camp in Canada

Details
WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910)
Camp in Canada
signed and dated 'Homer -97' (lower left)
watercolor en grisaille and charcoal on paper
14 x 21 in. (35.6 x 53.3 cm.)
Executed in 1897.
Provenance
The artist.
Charles S. Homer, bequest from the above, 1910.
Mrs. Charles S. Homer, bequest from the above, 1917.
Arthur P. and Charles L. Homer, bequest from the above, 1937.
Giovanni Castano, Boston, Massachusetts.
Milch Galleries, New York, 1956.
Meyer and Vivian Potamkin, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, acquired from the above, 1958.
Sotheby's, New York, 23 May 2003, lot 51, sold by the above.
Acquired by the late owner from the above.
Literature
“Delaware Valley Calendar,” September 1968.
J. Knipfel, “American Art as Money Machine,” Welcomat/After Dark, June 14, 1989, p. 30.
L. Goodrich, A.B. Gerdts, Record of Works by Winslow Homer: 1890 through 1910, Volume V, New York, 2014, p. 232, no. 332, illustrated.
Exhibited
New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Life & Scenes from Quebec, April 1898, no. 26.
Prout's Neck, Maine, Prout's Neck Association, Century Loan Exhibition as a Memorial to Winslow Homer, July 18-August 2, 1936, no 20.
Boston, Massachusetts, Vose Galleries, October 14-November 2, 1940, no. 6.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Twentieth Century American Painting and Sculpture from Philadelphia Private Collections, October-November 1958, no. 11.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Art Collecting Philadelphia Style: Selected Works from a Private Collection, September-October 1968, no. 57.
Dallas, Texas, The Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The M.P. Potamkin Collection, January-March 1970, no. 38, illustrated.
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, William Penn Memorial Museum, An Alumnus Salutes Dickinson College 200th Anniversary (from the Collection of Meyer and Vivian Potamkin), November 1972-January 1973, no. 77.
New York, M. Knoedler & Co., Winslow Homer in Monochrome, December 1986-January 1987, p. 70, no. 101, illustrated.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, American Art from the Collection of Vivan and Meyer P. Potamkin, June-October 1989, p. 11.

Brought to you by

Tylee Abbott
Tylee Abbott Senior Vice President, Head of American Art

Lot Essay

The present work is part of a group of monochromatic Canadian scenes the artist completed in the mid-1890s. In the spring of 1893, Winslow Homer and his brother Charles made their first trip to Quebec, Canada, returning again in 1895, 1896 and 1902. Avid fishermen, they were drawn to the magnificent Saguenay River and the prized fishing located at Roberval on Lake St. John. The two joined the celebrated Tourilli Fish and Game Club in neighboring St. Raymond and built a small cabin by the lake. This leisure time in Quebec also left an important artistic impression on Homer, who gleaned inspiration from the local people and landscape. He wrote to his dealer in 1903, “As I shall go up for the spring fishing I will take my sketch block & will give you a full line of goods for next season.” (as quoted in M. Tedeschi, “A Special Union with Nature: The Adirondacks and Quebec,” Watercolors by Winslow Homer, exhibition catalogue, Chicago, Illinois, 2008, p. 165)

While in Canada, Homer opted for more tonal hues in lieu of his traditional vibrant palette. He painted a series of watercolors of the region in shades of black and gray in 1895, to which the present work is possibly related. Abigail Gerdts explains, “This purely monochromatic watercolor, is the only such dated by inscription to 1897, which prompts speculation linking it to the group of monochromatic Canadian scenes dated 1895 and exhibited that year (No. 1577 through No. 1589). It might have been begun in 1895 but only completed when Homer was forming plans for his exhibition.” (Records of Works by Winslow Homer, 1890-1910, vol. 5, New York, 2014, p. 239) Notable examples from the 1895 series include Fishermen in Quebec, Canada (Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York); Two Men in a Canoe (Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine) and Trout Fishing, Lake St. John, Quebec (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts).

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