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Sunshine and Shadow, Prout's Neck

A work made of watercolor, with rewetting and blotting, over graphite, on thick, rough-textured, ivory wove paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of watercolor, with rewetting and blotting, over graphite, on thick, rough-textured, ivory wove paper.

Date:

1894

Artist:

Winslow Homer
American, 1836-1910

About this artwork

As its title implies, Sunshine and Shadow, Prout’s Neck explores a specific effect of light on the sea. This watercolor places the viewer on the rocky Maine shore among the scrub and juniper bushes, the latter rendered in fluid black strokes with an elegance of gesture comparable to Japanese calligraphy. Despite Homer’s stated antipathy to the straight horizon line, the artist’s 1894 group of reductive Prout’s Neck watercolors focuses on the horizon as a locus of beauty. Accordingly, Homer started work on Sunshine and Shadow by making a tick mark in pencil at the center of the paper. He created the effect of the sun by leaving the bare white of the paper for the brightest areas of illumination. In contrast, heavy, gray-blue clouds throw their shadows over large expanses of dark water. The artist appears to have laid down his washes quickly and fluidly. The effect is contemplative and uplifting, yet it hints at a darker side of nature.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Winslow Homer

Title

Sunshine and Shadow, Prout's Neck

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.

1894

Medium

Watercolor, with rewetting and blotting, over graphite, on thick, rough-textured, ivory wove paper

Inscriptions

Signed recto, lower left, in brush and black watercolor: "Winslow Homer 1894" Inscribed verso, upper left, in graphite: "25 813"; upper left, in blue pencil: "16"; upper center, in blue pencil crossed out in graphite: "No 3"

Dimensions

38.5 × 54.6 cm (15 3/16 × 21 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection

Reference Number

1933.1253

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.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/16834/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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