During Winslow Homer’s lifetime, On the Beach at Marshfield hung prominently in the artist’s Kettle Cove cottage on the coastal peninsula of Prout’s Neck, Maine. Following the artist’s death in 1910, both this painting and The Sand Dune (its related sketch), descended into the collection of his brothers, Charles and Arthur. Homer’s brothers identified the seascape as Marshfield, Massachusetts based on familial attachments to the town and titled the present work as such.
On the Beach at Marshfield relates to an illustration that Homer completed for the August 17, 1872 issue of Harper’s Weekly. Entitled On the Beach–Two Are Company, Three Are None, this Harper’s illustration and the Wolf Family's fully executed oil painting speak to Homer’s engagement with summer beach subjects during this period of his career (fig. 1). This work effortlessly blends his lifelong preoccupation with seascapes and his fascination for the style, garments and customs of societal figures. Homer sought to harness the spirit of American life and leisure in the early 1870s, and On the Beach at Marshfield is one of the finest examples of the painter’s exploration into the world of American leisure.
“Country life became his main theme. There was the fashionable world of summer resorts and hotels, with women playing the leading roles.”
Unlike his French contemporaries– Degas, Manet, and Renoir– city life was not a widely sought out subject for American nineteenth century artists and their audiences. “The American city was not to become an accepted subject for art until the early twentieth century,” explains Lloyd Goodrich (Lloyd Goodrich, Winslow Homer, New York, 1959, p. 14). Taking into account the nation’s desire for scenes of respite in the wake of the Civil War as well as his own personal preference for quiet country living, Homer’s pictures from this period engage with summer resort life. Often centered around beautiful women and scenic beaches, these resort paintings highlight the artist’s awareness of societal fashion and trends. For Homer, though, the depiction of the beaches themselves was paramount to the compositon. Americans were drawn to these coastal towns for a peaceful escape from city living, and captivated by the serene beaches and breathtaking waters. In On the Beach at Marshfield, Homer’s careful application of alternating shades of blue and green offset by white wave crests creates a beautifully-rendered and inviting ocean. The soft sand beaches then merge with the water in a manner that is masterful in its use of both texture and color.
“Often his figures interact quietly with the world of things or nature.”
Homer’s approach to these coastal New England towns differed greatly from that of his contemporaries. Unlike Hudson River School painters, who focused deeply on their representation of the American landscape, occasionally incorporating figures off in the distance, Homer assigns equal importance to the seascape and the women in On the Beach at Marshfield. “Homer paid close attention to the tourists taking in the landscape around them, both in his illustrations and in his paintings,” author William Cross explains (William R. Cross, “Homer’s Journey,” in Homer at the Beach: A Marine Painter’s Journey, 1869-1880, Gloucester, Massachusetts, 2019, p. 15). His ability to produce a seascape that is drenched in light, vibrant in color and skilled in perspective, while also featuring fashionable women at center is a level of expertise that sets Winslow Homer above his peers. On the Beach at Marshfield successfully communicates the appeal of summer resort living while also demonstrating the artist’s strength as a painter of the coast and sea. Homer experimented with watercolor for the first time in 1873, so the present work is one of the final oils he completed before engaging with new media.