Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910). Fresh Air, 1878. Watercolor heightened with white opaque watercolor, with scraping and selectively applied glaze, over charcoal on moderately thick, rough-textured wove paper, 20 1/16 x 14 in. (51 x 35.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 41.1087 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 41.1087_SL3.jpg)
Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910). Fresh Air, 1878. Watercolor heightened with white opaque watercolor, with scraping and selectively applied glaze, over charcoal on moderately thick, rough-textured wove paper, 20 1/16 x 14 in. (51 x 35.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 41.1087 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.41.1087.jpg)
Fresh Air
Winslow Homer
American Art
Winslow Homer, who rose to national prominence in the 1860s for his magazine illustrations and oil paintings of modern American life, took up watercolor in the 1870s. Fresh Air is one of the most ambitious of an early series of plein air watercolors depicting fancifully dressed shepherdesses that Homer made at Houghton Farm, a patron’s country estate in upstate New York. He created brilliant effects of light and atmosphere by exploiting the natural transparency of the medium and the brightness of the white paper. To achieve the subtle coloration in the sky, he applied overlapping washes of grays, pinks, and blues and then blotted them together.
MEDIUM
Watercolor heightened with white opaque watercolor, with scraping and selectively applied glaze, over charcoal on moderately thick, rough-textured wove paper
DATES
1878
DIMENSIONS
20 1/16 x 14 in. (51 x 35.6 cm)
Frame: 30 x 24 x 1 1/2 in. (76.2 x 61 x 3.8 cm) (show scale)
SIGNATURE
Signed and dated lower right: "Winslow Homer / 1878"
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
41.1087
CREDIT LINE
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910). Fresh Air, 1878. Watercolor heightened with white opaque watercolor, with scraping and selectively applied glaze, over charcoal on moderately thick, rough-textured wove paper, 20 1/16 x 14 in. (51 x 35.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 41.1087 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 41.1087_SL3.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 41.1087_SL3.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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