“Artist Studio in Afternoon Fog,” by Winslow Homer, 1894, oil on canvas, 24 x 301/4. Collection the Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
“High Cliff Coast of Maine,” by Winslow Homer, 1894, oil on canvas, 30 1/8 x 38 1/4. Collection the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C
The exhibition takes its title from Winslow Homer’s masterpiece “Weatherbeaten” (1894) in the Portland Museum of Art’s collection. In this way, Homer declared “Weatherbeaten” a special work, embedding in it the timeless process of wave and rain striking the Maine coast. Many of these works have not been on exhibition in Maine for a more than a generation and, due to their extraordinary rarity and importance in the history of American art, will not be seen together again for decades to come.
“Eight Bells,” by Winslow Homer, 1886, oil on canvas, 25 1/4 x 30 1/8. Collection Addision Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
The exhibition checklist is a short course in Homer’s powers of observation. There are lyrical meditations on the environment in all seasons such as as well as narrative masterpieces. The paintings graphically demonstrate Homer’s ability to darkly paint a narrative but leave the final chapter to the viewer’s imagination.
“Prouts Neck, Breaking Wave,” by Winslow Homer, 1887, watercolor on wove paper, 15 x 21 3/8. Collection the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
In 2006, the Portland Museum purchased Homer’s studio at Prouts Neck, located 12 miles from the Museum, from Homer’s great grand-nephew. The restored Studio will open to the public on September 24, 2012. Weatherbeaten: Winslow Homer and Maine is organized by Thomas Denenberg, former Chief Curator at the Portland Museum of Art and Director of Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue to be published by Yale University Press and will include essays by Thomas Denenberg; James F. O’Gorman, Professor Emeritus at Wellesley College; Marc Simpson, Associate Director of the Williams College Graduate Program in Art History; and Erica Hirshler, Croll Senior Curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. For more information, visit the museum’s website: www.portlandmuseum.org.
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