Lot Essay
RELATED WORKS:
Hurricane, Bahamas, 1898, watercolor on paper, 14½ x 21in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Winslow Homer executed Tornado, Bahamas during his first visit to the Bahamas in the winter of 1884-85. This was the artist's first vacation away from Prout's Neck, Maine, where he had made his permanent home in 1883 upon his return from Cullercoats, England. Upon arrival in Nassau, the Bahamas, which was fast becoming a popular resort, Homer was immediately taken with the dazzling light and brilliant colors of the tropical island--qualities perfectly suited for expression in watercolor.
Tornado, Bahamas may depict Grant's Town, a community populated by local laborers that was comprised of wooden huts with clapboards and shuttered windows. The village was popular with tourists because of its picturesque qualities. During this visit to Nassau, Homer executed several watercolors of such charming buildings set against brilliant blue skies or tropical foliage. The watercolors from this group are characterized by the artist's continued exploration of light, atmosphere and weather conditions--subject matter familiar to him from time spent in Maine, England and Gloucester, Massachusetts. For example, the approaching storm clouds seen in the upper left of Tornado, Bahamas as well as the figures seen closing the shutters of the huts' windows recall themes in Homer's English watercolors of 1881-82 in which he captured the power of the North Sea's fierce gales. At the same time, this interest in approaching storms seen in Tornado, Bahamas anticipates his great oil paintings of the 1890s that display the power and fury of the ocean storms of the Maine coast.
Although local subject matter fascinated Homer, it was the natural splendor of the tropics that has the most powerful influence on the artist. H. Cooper writes, "Formally, the Caribbean light had a liberating--and lasting--effect on Homer's watercolor style. The Bahamas sheets are painted with free and gestural strokes in transparent washes often of brilliant colors, leaving large areas of white paper exposed. Their style was undoubtedly affected by the conditions of their creation: painted outdoors, and quickly, before the watery pigment could dry under the hot sun. With fewer spongings, scrapings, and lift-outs, they have a direct, seemingly unpremeditated execution. Homer was able suddenly to say things that had before been communicated only with effort." (Winslow Homer Watercolors, Washington, DC, 1986, p. 134)
This painting will be included in the forthcoming Spanierman Gallery/CUNY/Goodrich/Whitney catalogue raisonné of the works of Winslow Homer.
Hurricane, Bahamas, 1898, watercolor on paper, 14½ x 21in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Winslow Homer executed Tornado, Bahamas during his first visit to the Bahamas in the winter of 1884-85. This was the artist's first vacation away from Prout's Neck, Maine, where he had made his permanent home in 1883 upon his return from Cullercoats, England. Upon arrival in Nassau, the Bahamas, which was fast becoming a popular resort, Homer was immediately taken with the dazzling light and brilliant colors of the tropical island--qualities perfectly suited for expression in watercolor.
Tornado, Bahamas may depict Grant's Town, a community populated by local laborers that was comprised of wooden huts with clapboards and shuttered windows. The village was popular with tourists because of its picturesque qualities. During this visit to Nassau, Homer executed several watercolors of such charming buildings set against brilliant blue skies or tropical foliage. The watercolors from this group are characterized by the artist's continued exploration of light, atmosphere and weather conditions--subject matter familiar to him from time spent in Maine, England and Gloucester, Massachusetts. For example, the approaching storm clouds seen in the upper left of Tornado, Bahamas as well as the figures seen closing the shutters of the huts' windows recall themes in Homer's English watercolors of 1881-82 in which he captured the power of the North Sea's fierce gales. At the same time, this interest in approaching storms seen in Tornado, Bahamas anticipates his great oil paintings of the 1890s that display the power and fury of the ocean storms of the Maine coast.
Although local subject matter fascinated Homer, it was the natural splendor of the tropics that has the most powerful influence on the artist. H. Cooper writes, "Formally, the Caribbean light had a liberating--and lasting--effect on Homer's watercolor style. The Bahamas sheets are painted with free and gestural strokes in transparent washes often of brilliant colors, leaving large areas of white paper exposed. Their style was undoubtedly affected by the conditions of their creation: painted outdoors, and quickly, before the watery pigment could dry under the hot sun. With fewer spongings, scrapings, and lift-outs, they have a direct, seemingly unpremeditated execution. Homer was able suddenly to say things that had before been communicated only with effort." (Winslow Homer Watercolors, Washington, DC, 1986, p. 134)
This painting will be included in the forthcoming Spanierman Gallery/CUNY/Goodrich/Whitney catalogue raisonné of the works of Winslow Homer.