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Charcoal-gray clouds fill most of the sky over a turquoise-blue body of water in this horizontal watercolor painting. The gray clouds on the left become more blue as they move to the right. The water is framed by low hills sloping down from both sides, which are painted in cinnamon and dark brown with touches of forest green and topped with a few slender, windblown trees. Several black rocks form a curve along the lower right side of a cove directly in front of us. Loose strokes of brown, tan, and pale blue fill the lower right corner below them. On the horizon, at the center of the composition, is a dark gray finger of land with a tiny steamship drifting by, smoke rising from its two smokestacks. The artist signed and dated the lower left, “Homer 1901.”

Winslow Homer

The Coming Storm, 1901

Not on View

Medium

watercolor over graphite on wove paper

Dimensions

overall: 36.9 x 53.5 cm (14 1/2 x 21 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Ruth K. Henschel in memory of her husband, Charles R. Henschel

Catalogue Raisonné

Goodrich/Gerdts 2014, Vol. V, no. 1715

Accession Number

1975.92.3

Artists / Makers

Winslow Homer (artist) American, 1836 - 1910

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
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Inscription

lower left in black: Homer 1901; upper center verso in graphite by unknown hand: 25=34; upper right verso in red colored pencil by unknown hand; 23.99.

Provenance

Hamilton Easter Field, New York, 1903; (M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1923); Brooklyn Museum, New York, 1923; Charles R. Henschel; Ruth K. Henschel (Mrs. Charles R. Henschel), New York, by 1958; gift to NGA, 1975

Associated Names

Henschel, Charles R., Mrs.

Exhibition History

1902: Thirteenth Annual Exhibition, NY Watercolor Club, 1902, no. 2

1903: Seventy-Second Annual Exhibtion, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1903, no. 608

1936: Winslow Homer Centenary Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1936, no. 97

1945: American Watercolor and Winslow Homer, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 1945

1947: A Loan Exhibition of Winslow Homer for the Benefit of the New York Botanical Garden, Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1947, no. 82

1958: Winslow Homer: A Retrospective Exhibition, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Nov. 23, 1958-Jan. 4. 1959, no. 177

1962: Watercolors by Winslow Homer from the Collection of Mrs. Charles R. Henschel, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, July 6-Sept. 12, 1962, no. 16

1966: Watercolors by Winslow Homer, 1836-1910, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1966, no. 45

1973: Winslow Homer, Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, 1973, no. 156

1995: Winslow Homer, National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995-1996, 350-351, no. 218.

2001: A Century of Drawing, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2001-2002, no. 3.

2005: Winslow Homer in the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2005-2006, unnumbered brochure.

Bibliography

1995: Winslow Homer. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995-1996: no. 218.

2001: A Century of Drawing. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2001-2002: no. 3.

2014: Goodrich, Lloyd and Abigail Booth Gerdts. Record of Works by Winslow Homer. New York, 2014: V, no. 1715, p. 319

2016: National Gallery of Art. Highlights from the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Washington, 2016: 266, repro.