Art Institute of Chicago
Sunshine and Shadow, Prout's Neck
Winslow HomerLinkedCulture matchlcp-bcddaaacf48f
- Date
- 1894
- Medium
- Watercolor, with rewetting and blotting, over graphite, on thick, rough-textured, ivory wove paper
- Culture
- United States
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Object ID
- 16834
From the Art Institute of Chicago record
As its title implies, Sunshine and Shadow, Prout’s Neck explores a specific effect of light on the sea. This watercolor places the viewer on the rocky Maine shore among the scrub and juniper bushes, the latter rendered in fluid black strokes with an elegance of gesture comparable to Japanese calligraphy. Despite Homer's stated antipathy to the straight horizon line, the artist’s 1894 group of reductive Prout's Neck watercolors focuses on the horizon as a locus of beauty. Accordingly, Homer started work on Sunshine and Shadow by making a tick mark in pencil at the center of the paper. He created the effect of the sun by leaving the bare white of the paper for the brightest areas of illumination. In contrast, heavy, gray-blue clouds throw their shadows over large expanses of dark water. The artist appears to have laid down his washes quickly and fluidly. The effect is contemplative and uplifting, yet it hints at a darker side of nature.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
- Provenance
- The artist to his brother, Charles S. Homer, Jr. (1834–1917), New York, by 1910 [according to correspondence from Abigail Booth Gerdts to the Art Institute, February 10, 2007]. Charles W. Gould (1849–1931), New York, by 1915 [Brooklyn exh. cat. 1915]. Sold by Knoedler and Company, New York, to Martin A. Ryerson (1856–1932), Chicago, November 11, 1915 [invoice]; given to the Art Institute, 1933.
Linked open data
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- Object type
- AAT300033973
Part of LinkedCulture topics
American Landscape and Coastal PaintingsThese works are 19th-century oil paintings depicting natural landscapes and seascapes from the northeastern United States, particularly coastal New England regions and rocky shores.
140 objects from 4 institutions
American Watercolor Landscape ArtThese objects are predominantly watercolor and drawing works by American artists depicting natural landscapes, outdoor recreational activities, and coastal or wilderness scenes from the 19th century.
63 objects from 3 institutions
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