While looking at several paintings by Winslow Homer the other day, I found that, as usual, I am more drawn to his quiet scenes of plain folk going about their lives, whether it's a young woman carrying a pail of fresh milk, a lobster fisherman in Maine, a shepherdess resting with her flock, or the girl with a hay rake, there in my side bar, with those small brush strokes of blue shining in the sunlight.
But while I was moving through them, one titled, "Houses of Parliament," called me back for another look. I found myself very drawn to this painting. Its simplicity and its ethereal quality were enticing. But there was something else. The men in the boat pulling their oars made me pause and then spend some time there. I had this vague feeling that I couldn't articulate even to myself. What was it about that boat on the Thames, those men at their oars, that made me sit there just watching them? Were they ferryman in a race against time and the turning of the tide? Or was it something else, something more?
The qualities you see and experience in a painting may be quite different than mine. You may not be struck by the same thought or feeling. Whatever nameless feeling I had while viewing this painting, whatever well from which I drew this response, in that moment it was as though everything depended on the men in that boat. Everything. Life itself was counting on them. Perhaps even some great good could come from simply watching them, witnessing their efforts to keep the world spinning on its axis.
Winslow Homer "Houses of Parliament"
Remember to click on and enlarge the image.
That's the wonderful thing about art...its power to move, and to make us stop and think. (And you often make me stop and think!) I know that nameless feeling, and I often wonder where it comes from myself.
ReplyDeleteThe contrast of the working people oaring through the water with the backdrop of Parliament is so powerful. I see Parliament looming over the common man leading one to wonder who is really in control. A thought provoking image, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteTwo boats, close together...I also see working people. I agree with Wild Bill. Thank you Teresa, you have such a wonderful way of sharing.
ReplyDeletenow you have made me look too.
ReplyDeleteOnly the boat and the rowers are real, all the rest if mirage, shadowy, ephemeral.
men battling the other world?
Teresa, it is an arresting image. I'm with Wild Bill in seeing some contrast between the working people and the leisure/power class. I notice that the recreational rowing shell in the middle ground is sketched in with the same ephemeral blurriness as the Houses of Parliament in the background. The larger working boats father back are drawn more sharply...
ReplyDeleteI'm also drawn to the sky... the obscured sun, the bright clouds on the left side. It is a captivating image that draws you into its drama.
This piece is all about the men in the boat; they are toiling hard to cross the river, it's their whole world. The mightiness of parliament and the city is nothing to them, their whole world is their struggle to survive.
ReplyDeleteLi, Yes, I like it when art makes us stop and think, and really, all art does that, to varying degrees.
ReplyDeleteBill, I appreciate your thoughts on the working class vs. the powers that be.
Lynn, Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed this as much as I did pulling it together.
Friko, Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting. I appreciate your ideas here. Men battling the other world is a very interesting question. I like it.
Dan, I found that blurred rowing shell an interesting element, too. And that sky! I love the sense of drama the boat creates against that dream-like setting.
Marilyn, I Love your approach to this painting. There does seem to be a struggle at the center. Yes, I like the directness of life that you allude to here.
The guys in the boat are the only things that are real. The rest is just aesthetic.
ReplyDeleteIt is a very powerful painting. After reading the comments, I went back and studied it further (and found that my half finished comment disappeared). It seems to me that the sky is filled with haze and maybe signs and portents as well. Thanks for sharing it with me!
ReplyDeleteLinda, I like your straightforward approach. It could well be that as a painter that was Homer's thought, too.
ReplyDeleteDJan, I like the drama of the sky and it does seem to add the possibility of those things.
I see the fog getting lifted by the sun. His light shows more in the reflection than on the objects around.It made me think of heavy fog I have been in and how it hides and obscures all around.
ReplyDeleteI love getting totally lost in art. I find that it is best for me to go to museums alone. So many people don't understand why I find one painting over another so fascinating. This one deserves time indeed.
ReplyDeleteTeresa, I like that painting ! Homer definitely like water themes in his paintings.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Steve!
ReplyDeleteBetty, you bossy thing you. :) I agree, museums are often best done alone where you can get lost in a piece or pieces.
I always know I can stop by for a visit here and be inspired, and compelled to look deeper. Isn't it wonderful when we suddenly notice something different in an artist's work. Homer is known for so many other paintings and subjects, and here this one sits, just waiting to be explored.
ReplyDeleteWell done, Teresa, and I thank you for sharing it so well on this post.
Paul, Yes, they were his most noted. I love several of his where he depicts women waiting by the sea for their fisherman's return. Or the lobster fisherman and the woman on the windswept beach. I could go on, but will save them for future posts. :)
ReplyDeletePenny, Thank you so much. I'm glad you stopped by. It really did arrest my attention, as it is different than others I've spent time exploring. It was a really nice moment of discovery. Glad I could share it.
I'm so glad you reminded me to click on the picture to enlarge it. I'd love to see this in person.
ReplyDeleteLast year I went to an exhibit of impressionists in San Francisco and this painting , which I'd never seen reproduced made me teary (it was amazing in a way that the wikimedia version isn't quite). There was just such a feeling, standing there in front of Monet's painting...
I can imagine being blown away by Winslow Homer just by how lovely they are here.
Neighbor, I had not ever seen any image of that Monet painting. It has a very nice emotional context to it. That lone magpie has an other worldly feel to it, yet so very much apart of this one. I can well imagine how it must have felt in person. Thank you so much for showing it to me. I like surprises in art.
ReplyDeleteYou sure know how to start a good thinking party, don't you? My eyes are so bad .... even using a magnifying glass, it's hard to see. But the buildings are so dim as fogged out and all the boats are the only things in focus. Is that what Friko said? After reading all the comments, any of them could be what Homer had in mind. But I guess that's the beauty of a painting.... your own interpretation is the right one.
ReplyDeleteOur snow is gone from below the mountains. How's your spring coming?
Manzanita, A thinking party. I like that. I agree with your comments. Individual interpretation is what makes art so fascinating.
ReplyDeleteSnow is gone and it's fairly warm and sunny. Yard work is calling. So far, I've been resisting, but that will have to change. And soon.
Your post would make a wonderful class assignment judging from your responses....excellent. I see a vibrancy of life, toil, dream, and hope.
ReplyDeletePaul C. I like looking closely at things, perhaps too closely, but it's the nuances of life that are enriching...God in the details? :)
ReplyDeleteTeresa, if this were painted today, I'm pretty sure these stalwart fellows would be hurrying home to catch a rugby game on the BBC. Seriously, the greatest artists and writers don't use symbols. It is what it is and that depends, as you referenced, on you who are you.
ReplyDeleteHi Cletis, Yes, things have changed....
ReplyDeleteI agree, they do not intentionally use symbols. They emerge in the viewer or the readers perception as they relate to it through the eye of their own experiences, which does make for an interesting discussion.