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Prout's Neck, Breaking Wave

A work made of transparent watercolor, with touches of opaque watercolor, rewetting, blotting and scraping, over resist and traces of graphite, on medium weight, moderately textured, ivory wove paper, laid down on cream wove paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of transparent watercolor, with touches of opaque watercolor, rewetting, blotting and scraping, over resist and traces of graphite, on medium weight, moderately textured, ivory wove paper, laid down on cream wove paper.

Date:

1887

Artist:

Winslow Homer
American, 1836-1910

About this artwork

Philip Beam has identified the site for Prout’s Neck, Breaking Wave as “the shoreline a little above water’s edge in the vicinity of Cannon Rock, looking toward High Cliff,” adding that Homer “fished from this point almost daily during the summer and fall and must have seen such waves “a thousand times” (Beam 1966, n.p.). Homer’s familiarity with the site is born out by the techniques that he used to capture the relentless churning movement of the massive wave. Although he used very little graphite in this work, he mapped out the frothy whites of the wave by making staccato marks with resist, probably using chalk for this purpose. Homer used almost every trick he knew to achieve the varied textures of water, shore, and sky, including layering, blotting, rewetting, and scraping. Although carefully planned and carried out, the final effect is vigorous and immediate.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Winslow Homer

Title

Prout's Neck, Breaking Wave

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.

1887

Medium

Transparent watercolor, with touches of opaque watercolor, rewetting, blotting and scraping, over resist and traces of graphite, on medium weight, moderately textured, ivory wove paper, laid down on cream wove paper

Inscriptions

Signed recto, lower left, in black watercolor: "Homer/1887"

Dimensions

38 × 54.4 cm (15 × 21 7/16 in.)

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

Reference Number

1933.1248

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/16818/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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