Winslow Homer: " A Fishergirl Sewing"

My wife and I headed out on our annual summer vacation to Maine last weekend. The increasing heat and humidity in Vermont, which is typical for this time of year, were great incentives. We visited the Portland Museum of Art, in Portland, Maine, early in the week and I came upon this book in their gift shop which depicts great watercolors by Winslow Homer I had never seen. 

The title for this book is: Winslow Homer in England by Tony Harrison (published in 2004 by Hornby Editions, Ocean Park, Maine). It is a revised and enlarged version of Winslow Homer in Cullercoats (published in 1995 by Station Press in the U.K.).

The image on the cover is Homer's watercolor "Fisher Girl with Net" (1882), which, like many Homer paintings, is owned by the Sterling and Francine Clark Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Homer at The Clark was the subject of my previous post.  

Winslow Homer painted over seven hundred watercolors, mostly of American scenes, whether it was of outdoorsmen hunting or fishing or children in rural settings. However, this book features his time in England, when he studied the lifestyles of coastal fishing folk and their daily routines.  

I particularly like Homer's watercolor, "A Fishergirl Sewing" (1881), which measures 12" x 18 1/2". The book notes that the girl is actually baiting lines, not sewing. I am fond of this picture for Homer's handling of the brush in painting the woman. He conveys the scene without much color, yet there is warmth in the depiction of the figure from the skin tone, her posture, and the rendering of her clothing, including the folds in the fabric. However, most of the scene is conveyed through the use of various grays and browns, muted warm and cool washes.

I keep reminding myself, that Homer painted in a time before electricity and when materials such as watercolor paints were not as readily available nor reliable, as we have today. The dark and somber tones may have been determined by the limited color choices on his palette as well as the limited lighting.