Winslow Homer

(probably) Wm. A. Butters & Co., Chicago, Original Water Color and Charcoal Sketches from nature by Winslow Homer, N.A., 10 December 1879

Cornelia Lunt, Evanston, Illinois (acquired circa 1879)

Anne Evans (acquired by bequest from the above)

Denver Art Museum, Denver (acquired by bequest from the above)

[with] M. Knoedler & Co., New York (acquired in 1947)

[with] Meredith Galleries, New York (acquired in 1947)

[with] Milch Galleries, New York (acquired in 1947)

Private Collection (acquired in 1956)

Private Collection (acquired after 1961)

Acquired by descent from the above by the present owner

"Fine Arts. Water Color Exhibition- Fifth and Concluding Notice- The Corridor and Black and White Room," New York Herald, 24 February 1879

Lloyd Goodrich and Abigail Booth Gerdts, Record of Works by Winslow Homer; 1877-1881, vol. III, New York, 2005, no. 745, p. 169, illustrated

New York, Century Association, 1879, no. 51 (as Old Oaks)

American Water Color Society, 1879, no. 388 (as Oak Trees)

Boston, Boston Art Club, Boston Society of Architects, and School at the Museum of Fine Arts, Exhibition of Contemporary Art, 1879, no. 688 (as Oak-Trees)

Katonah, New York, Katonah Museum of Art, Winslow Homer, 1963, no. 9

In the 1870s, Winslow Homer began to embrace watercolor as his primary medium. This mid-career watercolor renaissance is beautifully exemplified in his 1878 work, Autumn Trees. The painting displays Homer’s practiced and precise use of the medium in its vibrant seasonal colors and textured brushstrokes. That year, he painted multiple studies of the fall landscape along the Hudson River, in Hurley and Leeds, New York. These two towns continuously fostered inspiration for the artist, both bursting with rurality that provoked a sense of nostalgia and realism in his artwork.