The Light House, Nassau

Artist Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910)

Date1899

Mediumwatercolor over graphite on medium thick, slightly textured, cream wove paper

Dimensions37 x 53.8 cm (14 9/16 x 21 3/16 in.)

ClassificationsWatercolors

MarkingsWatermark: J WHATMAN

Credit LineMuseum purchase

Terms

Object number1911.14

Label TextHomer made two trips to the Bahamas: 1884-85 and 1898-99. Among the roughly 25 watercolors he made on his second trip, several illustrate human vulnerability in relation to nature. For example, in The Light House, Nassau, an unaccompanied seaman wrestles with mortality, signaling for help as his boat fills with water. Scholars vigorously debate interpretations of Homer’s depictions of people of color. Later 20th-century scholarship often stresses that Homer’s most significant works from the American Civil War and Reconstruction years present African Americans in a positive and empathetic light. However, more recently, historians have drawn attention to his Bahamian works, which frequently preserve colonialist stereotypes of the country’s Black residents.ProvenanceEstate of the artist; (E.L. Knoedler, New York);

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