- 78
WINSLOW HOMER | On the Fence
Estimate
250,000 - 350,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- Winslow Homer
- On the Fence
- signed with initials WH and dated '78 (lower right)
- watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper laid down on card
- 6 5/8 by 8 1/2 inches
- (16.8 by 21.6 cm)
Provenance
Horace Hughes
F.W. Bayley & Son, Boston, Massachusetts
William Howe Downes, Boston, Massachusetts, 1910 (acquired from the above)
Alfred B. Downes, Boston, Massachusetts (by descent; sold: Sotheby's, New York, October 19, 1972, lot 13)
Acquired by the present owner at the above sale
F.W. Bayley & Son, Boston, Massachusetts
William Howe Downes, Boston, Massachusetts, 1910 (acquired from the above)
Alfred B. Downes, Boston, Massachusetts (by descent; sold: Sotheby's, New York, October 19, 1972, lot 13)
Acquired by the present owner at the above sale
Exhibited
Boston, Massachusetts, Museum of Fine Arts, Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Winslow Homer, February-March 1911
Literature
"The Water-Color Exhibition. List of Pictures Already Sold," Evening Post, New York, February 6, 1879, n.p.
"Art Notes," Sun, New York, February 10, 1879, n.p.
"Close of the Exhibition of the Water Color Society–A Most Successful Season," New York Herald, March 2, 1879, n.p.
William Howe Downes, The Life and Works of Winslow Homer, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1911, p. 92, illustrated op. 118
Lloyd Goodrich and Abigail Booth Gerdts, Record of Works by Winslow Homer: 1877 to March 1881, vol. III, New York, 2008, no. 679, p. 118, illustrated
"Art Notes," Sun, New York, February 10, 1879, n.p.
"Close of the Exhibition of the Water Color Society–A Most Successful Season," New York Herald, March 2, 1879, n.p.
William Howe Downes, The Life and Works of Winslow Homer, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1911, p. 92, illustrated op. 118
Lloyd Goodrich and Abigail Booth Gerdts, Record of Works by Winslow Homer: 1877 to March 1881, vol. III, New York, 2008, no. 679, p. 118, illustrated
Condition
Please contact the American Art department for this condition report: (212) 606 7280 or Colton.Klein@sothebys.com
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
Executed in 1878, On the Fence is part of a series of watercolors and drawings that Winslow Homer produced between 1877 and 1879 while living and working at Houghton Farm. Nestled in the Hudson River Valley town of Mountainville, New York, Houghton Farm belonged to Lawson Valentine, a varnish manufacturer, who was a principal patron and childhood friend of the artist. Homer first visited the property during the summer of 1876 and was immediately enchanted by the land's idyllic pastoral scenery. For the next three summers, the farm served as inspiration for an extensive and distinct body of work that ultimately initiated Homer’s mature period.
Having gained national attention with moving representations of the Civil War in the 1860s, many of which were published in Harper’s Weekly, Homer solidified his reputation as one of America’s finest painters with his portrayals of rural life in the ensuing decades. As the country entered an era of Reconstruction and post-war industrialism, Homer’s celebrations of simple American pleasures like On the Fence captured the nation’s conception of its own loss of innocence and nostalgia for its agrarian past.
Having gained national attention with moving representations of the Civil War in the 1860s, many of which were published in Harper’s Weekly, Homer solidified his reputation as one of America’s finest painters with his portrayals of rural life in the ensuing decades. As the country entered an era of Reconstruction and post-war industrialism, Homer’s celebrations of simple American pleasures like On the Fence captured the nation’s conception of its own loss of innocence and nostalgia for its agrarian past.