Customer Reviews (1)

treat your eyes and mind to something beautiful on a dreary winter day
I was browsing through the book store at the Art Institute of Chicago and was attracted to a new book that accompanies an upcoming exhibition at the museum.The beautiful cover of the book invited me to pick it up and open it.I know a little about Winslow Homer, but did not appreciate his accomplishments with watercolors until I flipped through this book.The staff at the book store must have thought I was a little nutty as I spent nearly an hour studying the gorgeous artwork and rich information about the artist, his times, and watercolor technique.The most interesting part is how the authors uncovered, just like CSI, how the artist created the pieces and what the watercolors originally looked like.I feel a little guilty buying the book from Amazon and not the Institute's store, but the museum will probably still benefit.This book is perfect for anyone whether you are an artist, a scientist, a lover or art, or just want to treat your eyes and mind to something beautiful on a dreary winter day. I am looking forward to returning to the museum and walking through the exhibition, which opens on February 16th. ... Read more

Book Description
Winslow Homer's watercolors rank among the greatest pictorial legacies of this country. Winslow Homer's first medium was oil painting, although to make ends meet, he did commercial illustration and chronicled the New York City social scene. Eventually, Homer withdrew from city life altogether to settle at Prout's Neck on the rocky New England coast. There he turned to watercolor, in part for financial reasons (watercolors were easier to sell), but the newly popular medium also enabled him to capture his impressions of scenery and landscapes encountered during his many travels with an immediacy and directness impossible in the more time-consuming oils. Of his more than 700 watercolors, over 140 are reproduced here, dating from the 1870s to the turn of the century and ranging from pastoral to narrative, dramatic to serene. Miles Unger's text provides insight into the artist's technical mastery of the medium and discusses the importance of Homer's watercolors within the larger body of his work. 140 color illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Watercolors of Winslow Homer
As a very young child I would spent many hours looking through my grandmother's art library.Winslow Homer and the French impressionists were my favorites and that early experience is probably one of many reasons I became an artist. I bought this book as a gift for my sister who is also an artist. I was able to read most of it before I gave it to her but intend to get a copy for myself. I especially liked the way the book follows Mr. Homer's growth as an artist. It's well written and the collection of his work is incredible. There are so many paintings I have never seen and some I have only seen in black and white.

Beautiful Reproductions of Homer's WC
My first impression of this book was WOW!!!The size of the reproductions is astounding.Many extend over both large pages of the text.The binding is such that the book lies flat on the table and so the seam in the middle is negligble.THe colour of the reproductions is rich, detailed, and rings true (altho I have not seen any of Homer's work in real-life).Compared side-by-side with Cooper's book, Cooper's reproductions are much smaller and the colour appears weaker and washed out.

As for the text of the book, it is interesting, informative, and insightful.Altogether, this is a very well put together book; it is one of the finest books I have in my collection.

Beautiful pictures, overwritten text
To: Amazon.com

The hundreds of paintings reproduced in this large-format book deserve five stars.The publisher should be thanked for bringing together works scattered around a large number of museums, and for giving us a finely produced art book.Even fans of Winslow Homer will not have seen most of these paintings, which may represent the summit of American watercolors.Unfortunately, the accompanying text goes far beyond what is necessary to appreciate Homer's art.The descriptions of personal history and technique are helpful, but not the philosophical musings and overwrought interpretations. The text should have been cut by a third. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Martha's Review
I am very pleased with the book of watercolors. There were numerous pictures of high quality, and covered different phases of his life.

An excellent book
This book provides a great analysis of Winslow Homer's growth as an artist.The author uses each chapter to analyze a different period of Homer's life as he, basically, self-taught himself through observation and experimentation based on where he lived, whether it was in the Bahamas, England, or the Northeast Atlantic coast of the United States. The pictures within the book are very good quality.The author emphasizes analysis of Homer's work over actual biographical information.If you are looking for more of a biographical-type book of Homer read Lloyd Goodrich's book Winslow Homer.Enjoy!

In Awe of Homer
Since seeing a show of Winslow Homer's works a few years ago, I have been in awe of this artist's talent and versatility. So it was natural for me to pick up this beautifuland informative book which focuses on his watercolor career. In addition, the author gives us Homer's earlier background as an oil painter and illustrator. She is certainly well-qualified to write about Homer---she holds the position of Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale University Art Gallery.

The color plates in this book are gorgeous and the text gives good information about Homer, his life, times, and techniques. It was a delight for my eyes!

In 1873, at the age of 37, Homer began serious work with watercolor while in Gloucester, Massachusetts. These paintings were characterized by broad brushstrokes and extensive use of light and color.

The Gloucester watercolors began Homer's lifelong pattern: he would focus for a certain amount of time on a singular theme inspired by a particular location.Some of these themes included rural life, especially childhood, and seascapes/marine scenes. He lived for periods of time in Gloucester; Cullercoats, England; Prout's Neck, Maine; the Bahamas and Cuba;, the Adirondacks; Quebec; Bermuda; and Florida. His need for privacy led him to live in somewhat remote locations, and during these years he was constantly experimenting with new techniques. Prout's Neck was his home base for his last 30 years although he often spent time in other places during that period. It was in Cullercoats (1881-82) that he developed his mature watercolor technique and his love of sea themes which he painted for the rest of his life.

Homer's late works are very thought provoking, often showing heroic subjects or themes; they show nature's beauty and its power and humans' mortality.

Homer lived a very solitary life, never truly realizing how really famous he was. He died at the age of 75, his last five years spent even more withdrawn from society and battling many illnesses.

Beautiful and Lasting...
Received as a gift and have loved to peruse it ever since. Everyone should have these paintings to relax themand these words that stimulate.

Homer, my hero!
One of my heroes, Winslow Homer (1836 - 1910) worked in watercolour throughout his career.As a watercolorist myself, I rate Homer as one of the best in the history of watercolor painting.

I purchased this book for its good illustrations of Homer's watercolour paintings, but soon found that the excellent text makes compelling reading too, dealing with formal and art-historical painting issues.It is an academic publication, with an emphasis on Homer's technique as it relates to his subject and meaning. Buy it just to drool over the paintings; the text is an added bonus.

The author has grouped Homer's watercolor work into geographical sections - for example, "Bahamas", "Adirondacks", "Florida and Prout's Neck".More than just a chronological journey, the book examines Homer's work from his many different physical locations.Homer's technically brilliant watercolours reflect his unique artistic vision, celebrated in vivid color, unique viewpoints, superb composition ... and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Covers the range of the artist's watercolours
The book opens with a chronology and a bibliography. This is followed by a ten page essay which provides a chronological record of Homer's development and his work. The remainder of the book is taken up with the colour plates, each of which is presented on the right hand page with the facing page offering details and comments on the work. These notes are generally objective and informative.

The large square format of the book combined with taking the image almost to the edges of the page, allows the images to be reproduced to a good size. However, while there is no problem with the clarity of the images they appear a little weak in colour, and lack the vibrancy one would expect from watercolours. While I have not been fortunate to see the works in the original, reproductions I have seen elsewhere look more convincing. I feel too that the choice of a modern serif font for the text is not the best choice; it certainly has not reproduced well and despite being fairly large is not that easy to read across the wide page.

This is a well produced book which offers thirty two full colour plates covering the range of the artist's watercolour output.

Great book for lovers of watercolor
This is an excellect book for anyone who is interested in painting, watercoler and/or Winslow Homer.It has a representative sample of Homers' work with large color plates, along with a discussion of each painting which places it in the context of Homers' life and career at the time the work was created. ... Read more

Book Description
With close analysis of Homer's art and of the personal challenges he faced throughout his life, Winslow Homer: The Nature of Observation is the most comprehensive study to date of the relationship between the artist's work and the psychological stages of his life. Elizabeth Johns uses theories advanced by Erik Erikson and Daniel Levinson to look at Homer's evolution as a painter and a person within the context of the continuing dynamics of his family. Her incisive and absorbing readings of the artist's work take into account the developmental stages of young, middle, and late adulthood, analyzing what Homer painted at the various turning points in his life.
With this psychosocial approach, Johns examines the wood-engraved illustrations of Homer's early career in relationship to the values of his family; his images of the Civil War in the context of his young manhood; his paintings of the social scene and young women's place in it in connection with his own potential for marriage; his images of fisherwomen at Cullercoats and fishermen at Prout's Neck as they relate to his interior vision during middle age; and his intrigue with the sea in his late works as an identification with the larger processes of the universe. With more than seventy-five black-and-white illustrations and forty color plates of arresting images by this American master, Winslow Homer takes into account all available documentation, including the rich trove of the artist's correspondence at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, and his entire body of work--illustrations for wood engravings, watercolors, and oils. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Winslow Homer
This is one of the most instructive books on painting that I have read.I could understand the concepts so well. Now I hope I can make use of them.Beautiful!

InsightfulAdjunctto the Art of Winslow Homer
Considered by most art historians to be one of the more important American artists, Winslow Homer was essentially self-taught and that fact informs his prolific span of works as much from the progressive technical maturity of his paintings and drawings as from the intuitive approach to his subjects that, at time, 'over-schooling' can flatten.

Elizabeth Johns has written an engrossing study of how Homer's life and psychological development are evident in the various stages of his work.Never cloying or intrusive in demeanor, Johns intertwines facts gleaned from correspondence and from criticism and Homer's responses to same to paint her own portrait of a man at odds with the world in some ways and in other ways as an integral observer of such phenomena as his passion for the sea.

Johns' writing is so facile that the book could comfortably exist without illustration, but add to the power of her writing the fine reproductions of both black and white and richly colored plates of Homer's paintings and this becomes a book that will satisfy even those who have questioned Homer's importance in American art history.A fine read.Grady Harp, November 05 ... Read more

Book Description
The First Major Critical Survey on the Artist in a Decade;Includes All Major Paintings.WINSLOW HOMER: AN AMERICAN VISION, by Randall C. Griffin, is the firstmajor critical survey on the life and work of Homer, one of America'sbest-loved artists, in the last decade.The book features every one of hismajor paintings alongside a remarkable selection of his lesser-knownetchings and woodcuts.Griffin's thoroughly researched, yet readablestudy, not only presents a full account of Homer's life and work, but alsoa fresh and provocative reassessment of his place in the history ofAmerican art. Randall Griffin, Associate Professor of Art History at Southern MethodistUniversity and an authority on Homer, begins his study of the life andworks of the artist with the astute observation, "Like the poems of WaltWhitman, the pictures of Georgia O'Keeffe, the novels of F. ScottFitzgerald and the music of Duke Ellington, the works of Winslow havehelped shape America's view of itself."Griffin argues that Homer's workexemplifies the aspiration to create specifically American subjects and aspecifically American character.Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was born in Boston, Massachusetts the same yearthat Davey Crockett died at the Alamo. He began his career a magazineillustrator and soon becoming a regular contributor to Harper's Weekly.Inthe early 1860's, Homer was sent by his editor to the front lines of TheCivil War, where he began to work on woodcuts and lithographs of wartimeencampments, some of his lesser-known pieces that are included in thismonograph.In the post-war years Homer turned his attention to theAmerican countryside and its people, and produced Snap the Whip, a paintingthought by many to be his best work.This painting was embraced by criticsas a nationalist masterpiece, reaffirming American ideals and values thathad been lost during the war.In 1883, Homer moved to the New Englandfishing village of Prout's Neck, Maine and, utilizing his watercolorskills, began what was to become his best-known period of seascapes andnautical scenes.Griffin presents an academic yet approachable study of this Americanclassic, expanding on the criticisms and themes of Homer's work, such aspost-war American values, the relationship between nature and man, theAmerican pastoral, and the loss of manhood control.WINSLOW HOMER: ANAMERICAN VISION presents an exceptional array of Homer's gorgeouspaintings, sketches and watercolors and is the most up to date monographavailable on the artist.This beautiful selection of works, paired withGriffin's original research and fresh interpretation, makes this a timelessbook that will compliment any library as well as satisfy the needs ofscholars and general readers alike. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A powerful, recommended pick.
The works of Winslow Homer are already well familiar to any interested in American art: they captured the American Civil War and, later, scenes of early America as a whole, presenting a range of styles and themes - so it's surprising to note this book is the first in-depth critical survey written in the last decade. Here all his major paintings appear along with a number of etchings and woodcuts to compliment a blend of biography and critical art survey. Full-page color prints not only analyze the works; they offer insights into the public's reaction to scenes, settings, and perspectives. A powerful, recommended pick.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch ... Read more

Book Description
This engaging book looks closely at Winslow Homer's avid pursuit of fly-fishing and at the inspiration the sport provided for his art.

It was fly-fishing that led the eminent painter to three of the locales with which we now associate his name: the Adirondacks in northern New York State, Florida, and Quebec. Each of these distinctive regions elicited unique and strong reactions from the painter, which took form in works that are brilliant studies of light, atmosphere, and the spirit of place.

Homer's fly-fishing paintings are an immensely varied and little-understood aspect of his art. They serve as a counterpoint to all his other work, especially in the 1880s and beyond when fly-fishing represented a regular and sustained activity for the artist. His fishing expeditions offered recreation, rejuvenation, solace, and camaraderie, which spurred his imagination. The intense visual experience of fly-fishing afforded Homer a close involvement with nature's mysterious details, revealing new worlds of color, form, and dynamism. He also found through fishing new outlets for his work, new patrons, and an audience of Victorian-era sportsmen who could comprehend his pictures. 184 illustrations, 123 in color. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Winslow Homer: Outdoorsman
The art is amazing. And the book is a fine academic effort at explaining Homer.

However, each chapter is authored by a different writer and not every chapter is equally well-crafted. This individual essay format also thwarts any attempt to present a cohesive story arc.

In the end, I still wonder exactly why the outdoors meant so much to Homer; none of the author's fully or successfully explained that crucual detail.

Also, by limiting the book to fishing, the authors have excluded a major portion of Homer's sporting life and artistic inspiration. His hunting pictures are among his most commanding and they get little or no attention in this book. Sport of all sort seems to have informed Homer's life -- and art -- throughout the year; a book simply about his angling art therefore fails to provide a full picture of the man, his life, and his work.

But the stunning art alone is worth the price of admission. ... Read more

Book Description
This book discusses and reproduces more than two hundred paintings, watercolors, and drawings that span Winslow Homer`s career, focusing not only on Homer`s masterpieces in various media but also on the suites of works on the same subject that reflect the artist`s essentially modern practice of thinking and working serially and thematically. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Homerandthe sea
I liked the book, has hundreds of oil paintings and many of the watercolors of Homer, about everything that has to do with the sea where it is a true master. The reason for placing four stars and not five is not that there are so many color illustrations of every page, as expect of a large book. But like is a very good buy for lovers of Homer

Taking Winslow Homer Seriously
Too often museums and writers take the prodigious output of the 19th century American artist Winslow Homer lightly, even at times dismissing him as inconsequential in the mainstream of important art.This magnificent volume whould change that once and for all.

Essayists and curators Nicolai Cikovsky andFranklin Kelly, with significant contributions by writers Judith Walsh and Charles Brock, have not only created a superb collection of Homer's works in all media, they have also taken the time to reevaluate Homer in terms of his place among his colleagues of his day, his subsequent isolationism when he communicated with nature along the coast of Maine, creating come of the most mystically beautiful works form an American artist, and an overview of how history has treated him.

The result is a hefty volume with more valuable insights and well written essays that for once truly illuminate the images generously placed throughout the volume.This may have started out to be a catalogue to accompany a traveling exhibition, but its long shelf life is assured by the high quality of every aspect of the book.Highly recommended for art lovers and art historians alike.Grady Harp, January 06

A nice taste of Winslow Homer
I'd been looking for a book about Winslow Homer for a while and was delighted to find this one. Kate Jennings' copy about his life and art are very good and the 68 color prints are large and on glossy paper. The prints are not top notch, but very nice. If you're looking for a nice collection of Homer's work without breaking the bank, this is for you. (This review pertains to the Winslow Homer book by Kate Jennings. Alas,I havn't seen the one by Nicolai Cikovsky.)

Winslow Homer, A 'GEM'for the Serious Art Student
As an Art student, venturing into watercolor recently, I received this book as a gift. I truly gained much information about the artist and the additon of color plates (90+) make this a complete reference guide. The author has separatedhis works into catogories by subject matter.The intro- duction reviews his travels, family life,interests,educa-tion,recognition and awardsduring his lifetime. A brief review proceeds each Chapterwhich then is visually supp-orted by wonderflul,colorful plates of Winslow works of that subject. The Chapters are Civil War, Sea PaintingsTropics, Adirondonck and Canada, and Prout's Neck,Me.He was an extraordinarypainter of various mediums,and always captured the 'atmosphere' in his workswhether it was stormy seasoff the coast of Maine, placid lakes in the mountains, clear skies in the tropics or children at play at that time. Fortunately, he was an artist who was noticed during his lifetime and rewarded with fame before his demise at age 74, having enjoyed his love of his work. I would highly recommend this hard cover version, to any art lover or student of the arts. I will plan to purchase this publication for my son, and perhaps a friend in the near future.

Winslow Homer, A 'GEM'for the Serious Art Student
As an Art student, venturing into watercolor recently, I received this book as a gift. I truly gained much information about the artist and the additon of color plates (90+) make this a complete reference guide. The author has separatedhis works into catogories by subject matter.The intro- duction reviews his travels, family life,interests,educa-tion,recognition and awardsduring his lifetime. A brief review proceeds each Chapterwhich then is visually supp-orted by wonderflul,colorful plates of Winslow works of that subject. The Chapters are Civil War, Sea PaintingsTropics, Adirondonck and Canada, and Prout's Neck,Me.He was an extraordinarypainter of various mediums,and always captured the 'atmosphere' in his workswhether it was stormy seasoff the coast of Maine, placid lakes in the mountains, clear skies in the tropics or children at play at that time. Fortunately, he was an artist who was noticed during his lifetime and rewarded with fame before his demise at age 74, having enjoyed his love of his work. I would highly recommend this hard cover version, to any art lover or student of the arts. I will plan to purchase this publication for my son, and perhaps a friend in the near future. ... Read more

Book Description
Winslow Homer (1836-1910) devoted much of his life to a study of the ocean and the people whose lives were intertwined with it. This book is the first to focus on the full range of Homer's coastal subjects, with thirty-six reproductions of his most powerful works. Carl Little's essay discusses Homer's development as a painter; quotations from writers such as Homer scholar Philip C. Beam and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins add a further dimension to the thorough and enlightening text. Third printing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

I could feel his love of the sea.
What a beautiful story of one of my favorite painters.I learned so much about how to look in depth. ... Read more

Book Description
The companion to the Cooper-Hewitt exhibition of Americas scenic wonders, as seen through the eyes of three of its greatest 19th-century artists. During the years following the Civil War, many artists, including Homer, Church, and Moran, created images of Americas scenic wonders and great landscape icons. These works, as well as decorative art objects, popular literature, photographs, and other ephemera helped to make the countrys landscape a source of national pride and promoted landscape tourism. Frederic Church, Winslow Homer, and Thomas Moran: Tourism and the American Landscape is a major exhibition mounted by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum which will showcase, for the first time in more than two decades, the museums extraordinary collection of more than 2000 paintings and drawings, which encompasses the largest grouping of Homer and Church objects in the world. Five original essays will accompany the 200 illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Travel Paintings from Early America
I am a big fan of American Impressionism and I like all three of the artists featured in this book.It's a scholarly review of the images that made Americans travel to see if the scenery was as magical as these artists depicted.From the New England coast, Niagra Falls, Grand Canyon, and Yosemite these artist were engaging in a recording of scenery that would soon be altered by the hordes of tourists that followed.
While photography was just beginning to record many of these same scenes it was not in color and it lacked the ephemeral quality that master painters like Church, Homer, and Moran were able to create.
I'm fairly certain this is the first time three of my favorite artists are featured in one book and show favorite scenes of magnificent American places. ... Read more

Book Description
Presents a biography of Winslow Homer ... Read more

Book Description
In addition to being acclaimed for his magnificent paintings and watercolors, Winslow Homer is widely regarded as one of the most accomplished and prolific illustrators of the nineteenth century. This volume illuminates his illustrations--an often overlooked but magnificent body of work by America's most popular nineteenth-century artist. Working in an era when photography was not yet widely used as a reproductive medium, Homer was employed between 1857 and 1875 as an artist whose images were made into wood engravings that appeared in such popular journals as Harper's Weekly, Appletons' Journal, and Every Saturday. Homer's first steps toward his transformation into the artist of haunting emotional and formal vision he later became are visible in these illustrations. Winslow Homer: Illustrating America reproduces 79 of Homer's best printed illustrations--scenes of children, of the Civil War, the coastal resorts, the Adirondacks, and others. Essay authors Gallati and Kushner discuss these works within their art historical and social contexts. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Well illustrated in full colour
Poet of the Sea is published in conjunction with exhibitions held in 2006 at London's Dulwich Picture Gallery and the Musee d'Art Americain in Giverny. Following the introduction to the exhibition, the first essay "Winslow Homer: Poet of the Sea", provides a brief background to the artist, and then traces his progress through his travels and the related paintings. "Homer's Wine Dark Seas", the next essay, discusses his watercolours and provides an objective and informative appraisal of the artist's work, including mention of some of his techniques; it also mentions contemporary attitudes and criticism regarding his work. The third essay "Mixing Oil and Water: the Development of Winslow Homer's Painting", traces Homer's development as an artist from his early days, and considers his influences and methods of working. The three essays are well illustrated in colour, with the illustrations appearing alongside the relevant text; and each supplies copious notes. The book concludes with a checklist of the exhibition, a chronology and a bibliography.

The catalogue of paintings commences on page 54 and is separated into four sections, each with a brief illustrated introduction to be followed by many pages of full colour plates. The quality of the reproduction is excellent, my only criticism: often the image is small relative to the page size, even those pictures which cross the gutter occupy less than a page and half width, and some very wide landscape format images are little more than a three inch wide strip across a single page, occupying considerably less than a quarter of the total page area. (An unfortunate trend in publishing today!)

A large format paperback with fold out covers, 152 pages, about 60 full colour plates including oils, watercolours and a few drawings; and illustrating the text an additional thirty or thereabouts full colour reproductions of which some are nearly half page size, plus one or two black and white photographs. This is an impressive and valuable publication.
... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (1)

From the Publisher
"The paintings of Winslow Homer (1836-1910) are among the most widely recognized and best-loved images in the history of American art. Ranging from the sunny slopes of the Adirondacks to the rocky coast of Maine (with the odd side trip to Cuba), Homer's bold and naturalistic depictions of the land, the sea, and men and women engaged in the activities of everyday life have come to be seen as a reflection of the American pioneering spirit. Thirty of Homer's finest pieces fill this book of postcards.

"Published with The National Gallery of Art. Thirty full-color reproductions bound in a handy 4 3/4 x 6 7/8" small book. ISBN: 0-7649-2871-6."--© Pomegranate ... Read more

Book Description
Another title from The Crown Art Library, the most useful monographs available on a wide range of significant artists. Each volume is written by an internationally recognized authority and is generously illustrated with full-color reproductions of the artist's paintings and two-color reproductions of sketches and line drawings. ... Read more