Art Institute of Chicago

The Cock Fight

Winslow Homer

Date

1885

Medium

Transparent and opaque watercolor, with traces of scraping, over graphite, on thick, moderately textured, cream wove paper (top and lower edges trimmed)

Culture

United States

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

In contrast to the free, confident brushwork of his Nassau images, Homer’s watercolors completed in Cuba (winter 1884-85) are characterized by more neutral color and finicky handling. In The Cock Fight , Homer used the simple backdrop of a plaster wall to offset his careful depiction of two decoratively feathered roosters. Although painted with atypical deliberation, the watercolor is intended to capture the fleeting moment when a battered young rooster has just vanquished an older, fully plumed male. As the fallen bird dies, feathers and dust stirred up by the battle still hover in the humid air.

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