The Return, Tynemouth (recto) Study (verso) - Winslow Homer

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

American Art Modern Art Paintings Prints

"The Return, Tynemouth (recto) Study (verso)" by Winslow Homer (1881) Transparent watercolor, with touches of opaque watercolor, rewetting, blotting, and scraping, heightened with gum glaze, over graphite, on moderately thick, moderately-textured, ivory wove paper (left and lower edges trimmed).

Commentary

"The Return, Tynemouth (recto) Study (verso)" by Winslow Homer (1881) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. Its painted surface guides your eye through color, brushwork, and contrast rather than through narrative alone. Themes to notice include watercolor. This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings collection. Winslow Homer is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: Winslow Homer American, 1836-1910. The work is cataloged within a United States cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as watercolor, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Transparent watercolor, with touches of opaque watercolor, rewetting, blotting, and scraping, heightened with gum glaze, over graphite, on moderately thick, moderately-textured, ivory wove paper (left and lower edges trimmed)) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (34.2 × 34.3 cm (13 1/2 × 13 9/16 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include watercolor. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/113064

Sources: Art Institute of Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago / Public Records; Art Institute of Chicago Collection Data