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A white boat with sails lowered floats in an aquamarine-blue ocean under a pale, sapphire-blue sky in this horizontal watercolor painting. To our right of center, the boat floats with its right, starboard side facing us and the bow angled slightly away. The white sails bunch up under the lowered, horizontal booms just above the top of the boat. The masts and rigging extend off the top of the composition. A group of a few people are gathered in the bow, on the far side of the sails. They are painted loosely but appear to have brown skin and red or black clothing. Waves lap against the side of the boat. To our left, an island or sliver of land with three palm trees deep in the distance lines the horizon, which comes about a third of the way up the composition. The water and sky are painted with layers of pale washes. The artist signed and dated the work in the lower left corner with dark paint: “HOMER KEY WEST 1903.”

Winslow Homer

Key West, Hauling Anchor, 1903

Not on View

Medium

watercolor over graphite on wove paper

Dimensions

sheet: 35.6 × 55.4 cm (14 × 21 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

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

Catalogue Raisonné

Goodrich/Gerdts 2014, Vol. V, no. 1739

Accession Number

1975.92.9

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 KEY WEST.1903.; center verso in graphite: Hauling Anchor

Provenance

(J. W. Young, Chicago, c. 1908); George C. Calvert, Indianapolis, by 1908; (Milch Galleries, New York, by 1926); Charles R. Henschel, New York, 1926; Ruth K. Henschel (Mrs. Charles R. Henschel), New York 1956; gift to NGA, 1975

Associated Names

Henschel, Charles R., Mrs.

Exhibition History

1905: Second Annual Exhibition, Philadelphia Water Color Club, Apr. 3-29, 1905, no. 636 (as Pulling in the Anchor)

1905: Thirty-eighth Annual Exhibition, American Water Color Society, New York, Mar. 10-27, 1905, no. 26A (as Pulling in the Anchor)

1911: Memorial Exhibition of Winslow Homer, John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis Mus. of Art, 15 Nov.-12 Dec. 1911, no. 13 (as Key West)

1930: Sixth Loan Exhibition: Winslow Homer, Albert P. Ryder, Thomas Eakins, The Museum of Modrn Art, New York, opened 8 May 1930, no. 33.

1936: Winslow Homer 1836-1910: Loan Exhibtion of Watercolors Commemorating the Centenary of his Birth, M. Knoedler & Co., NY, 20 Jan.-8 Feb. 1936, no. 21

1941: Watercolors and Drawings by Winslow Homer, Institute of Modern Art, Boston, 21 June-15 July 1941, no. wc-16

1962: Water Colors by Winslow Homer from the Collection of Mrs. Charles R. Henschel, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 6 July-12 Sept. 1962, no. 17

1966: Watercolors by Winslow Homer, 1836-1910, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, 7 July-28 Aug. 1966, no. 46

1986: Winslow Homer Watercolors, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2 Mar.-11 May 1986, no. 218

1995: Winslow Homer, National Gallery of Art, Washington; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995-1996, 352-353, no. 220.

2005: Winslow Homer in the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2005-2006, unnumbered brochure, fig. 8.

Bibliography

1986: Cooper 1986, p.228, fig.218, cover illustration.

1991: Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 293, color repro.

1995: Brock, Charles. "Winslow Homer." American Art Review 7 (February-March 1995): 101.

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. 220.

2014: Goodrich, Lloyd and Abigail Booth Gerdts. Record of Works by Winslow Homer. New York, 2014: V, no. 1739, p. 345.