Drawn entirely from the Addison’s collection, this focused installation of maritime works by Winslow Homer (1836–1910) examines the Boston-born artist’s persistent engagement with and interrogation of the twinned themes of watching and waiting across his fifty-year career. From his early graphic work produced as a largely self-taught Civil War “artist-correspondent” and illustrator to his mature, psychologically complex meditations on humanity and the forces of nature, Homer’s oeuvre reflects a lifelong preoccupation with observation and contemplation. From an anxious young boy scanning the horizon for a glimpse of his father’s returning fishing vessel to the resigned, blank stares of men adrift at sea, their diminutive dingy dwarfed by a cresting wave, Homer’s work is full of figures who watch and wait in ways both active and passive. Some attempt to chart a course or assess a threat while others powerlessly await their fates, their dramas forever unresolved, frozen in the liminal space between disaster and salvation.
Generous support for this exhibition has been provided by The Bernard and Louise Palitz Exhibitions Fund.
