A Sense of Place-Winslow Homer and the Maine Coast

August 2014 - Franklin Kelly, senior curator of American and British paintings, National Gallery of Art. On view from July 3, 2005 through February 26, 2006, Winslow Homer in the National Gallery of Art presented a survey of 53 paintings, watercolors, drawings, etchings, and wood engravings by American artist Winslow Homer (1836-1910) in the Gallery's collection. The exhibition spanned Homer's entire career, from his early Civil War painting Home Sweet Home (c. 1863) to late watercolors of tropical landscapes and his hunting scene Right and Left (1909), completed less than 2 years before his death. In this lecture recorded on January 8, 2006, Franklin Kelly describes the importance of the Maine coast in Homer's life and art. Homer spent his last 27 years living and working in a small, rugged spot called Prouts Neck, located on the Atlantic coast in southern Maine. Through works featured in the exhibition and archival photographs, Kelly illustrates how the Maine coast was an inspiring source of material to Homer throughout his career.