Saturday, June 18, 2022

Winslow Homer's Interpreters


 

"The [Metropolitan Museum of Art] show promises that a 'close study of his art' will reveal [Winslow] Homer's 'persistent concerns with race and the environment.' It also claims that The Gulf Stream 'addresses the racial politics of the time and the imperialist ambitions of the United States.'"

- From "The Obtuse Bard" by James Panero, The New Criterion, June 2022]


Homer was an avid sportsman, hunter, and fisherman. His work reflected the realities of life lived by the current, the wind, and the tide. His simple reply to "those inquisitve schoolma'ms" looking for more might be the same now as it was then: "I regret very much that I have painted a picture that requires any description."

- James Panero in the above article.

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