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Fishing off Scarborough

A work made of graphite and opaque white watercolor, with traces of black chalk, on medium weight, slightly-textured, tan laid paper with blue and red fibers.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of graphite and opaque white watercolor, with traces of black chalk, on medium weight, slightly-textured, tan laid paper with blue and red fibers.

Date:

1882

Artist:

Winslow Homer
American, 1836-1910

About this artwork

During Homer’s sojourn in England from 1881 to 1882, he rented a studio on a cliff overlooking Cullercoats Harbor, where he observed the comings and goings of fishing boats. Fishing Off Scarborough shows two young women and two fishermen in a coble as it slices through coastal waters. Carefully rendered in graphite, the figures and fishing boat stand in contrast to Homer’s spontaneous, abstract representation of clouds, mist, and spray done in opaque white watercolor. In addition to employing graphite to describe concrete objects, Homer used his pencil to suggest abstract effects, such as smoke rising from the steamship in the right background. Fishing Off Scarborough served as the basis for Homer’s 1883 watercolor, Returning Fishing Boats, which the artist completed after his return to New York from England.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Winslow Homer

Title

Fishing off Scarborough

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1882

Medium

Graphite and opaque white watercolor, with traces of black chalk, on medium weight, slightly-textured, tan laid paper with blue and red fibers

Inscriptions

Signed recto, lower left, in graphite: "Winslow Homer/1882"

Dimensions

46.2 × 61.8 cm (18 1/4 × 24 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

Reference Number

1933.1239

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/16788/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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