Winslow HomerAmerican, 1836–1910The Conch Divers
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Not receiving at present
Minneapolis, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
The New England painter Winslow Homer accepted an assignment in 1884 from Century magazine to illustrate an article on Nassau titled “A Midwinter Resort.” The trip inspired more than thirty watercolors, including this one. The startling intensity of the light, combined with a newcomer’s delight and an illustrator’s eye for quick execution, gives a fresh clarity to Homer’s images of the West Indies.
Here, the diagonal rail of the boat leads the eye to the three divers on board. Tightly grouped, they look not at the emerging diver but at the flat expanse of blue water. Alert, focused, and—judging by their animated feet—eagerly expectant, they are searching for conchs, mollusks used as food and bait.
Read on
The swift skill of Homer’s handling is evident in the clouds and the vessel; graphite contours are visible mainly in the figures, rope, and rigging. The paper was left untouched in areas of the men’s white pants, which contrast with their dark skin. Originally the bobbing figure had one arm extended, but Homer scraped it out and painted swirls of blue water to hide the traces.
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Particulars
- Accession number
- 15.137
In the catalog
Sources
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Image: Minneapolis Institute of Art — public domain
Meanwhile, in the life of Winslow Homer
The whole lifesummer 1883
Moves to Prouts Neck
In the summer of 1883 Homer moved from New York to Prouts Neck, a peninsula ten miles south of Portland, Maine, and lived there for the rest of his life, using solitude to work. He settled on the family estate, in a remodelled carriage house seventy-five feet from the ocean.
1884
Death of his mother
In 1884 Homer's mother died: his first teacher and the strongest influence on him. After her death he became a “parent” to his ageing but domineering father, and his sister-in-law Martha (“Mattie”) became his closest female intimate.
winter 1884 – 1885
Florida, Cuba and the Bahamas
In the winter of 1884–1885 Homer travelled to Florida, Cuba and the Bahamas, painting a series of watercolours commissioned by Century Magazine: the storm-tossed green sea of Prouts Neck gave way to the sparkling blue skies of the Caribbean, and for Edith Blake, wife of the governor of the Bahamas, he painted “Children Under a Palm Tree”. “A Garden in Nassau” (1885) is one of the best of these watercolours, but they proved too advanced for traditional buyers.
