Two Boys Watching Schooners - Winslow Homer

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

American Art Modern Art Paintings Prints

"Two Boys Watching Schooners" by Winslow Homer (1880) Watercolor, with graphite, on moderately thick, rough-textured, ivory wove paper.

Commentary

"Two Boys Watching Schooners" by Winslow Homer (1880) 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 narrativ e 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 (Watercolor, with graphite, on moderately thick, rough-textured, ivory wove paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (22.7 × 34 cm (8 15/16 × 13 7/16 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/16803

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