The Dinner Horn (Blowing the Horn at Seaside)

1870

Winslow Homer

Associated Names
Winslow Homer
Painter, American, 1836 - 1910
Facing away from us, a light-skinned woman blowing a silver horn stands in a grassy landscape in this vertical painting. The woman is lit brightly from the upper right, making her ankle-length, white dress glow. The sleeves are rolled back to her elbows, and a black ribbon fastens her blond hair in a net. We see the right edge of her cheekbone, and her skin is smooth and pale. She holds the horn up with her right hand and plants the back of her other hand on her hip. She stands with her heels together, wearing black boots. A strong wind from our right lifts and twists the hem of her dress and the thin ties at her waist. She stands on a patch of dirt within a leaf-strewn, grassy lawn. The edge of a building with wooden siding, presumably a house, runs parallel to the left edge of the painting. A vine grows up the corner of the house, and the very edge of a window frame is seen along the left side. At the corner of the house, two plants grow in pots, and an overturned, metal jug leans against the wall. An expanse of bright green grass stretches in front of the young woman. The land dips and rises a short distance away. A reddish-brown cow lies in the field beyond as black and white chickens peck the grass. The dark green canopies of trees growing to our left fill the top third of the painting. In the deep distance, a few dots of paint indicate people wearing white and red, working on a strip of brown land. One man works a plow pulled by a brown horse. A mounded, golden haystack sits farther back in that field. A strip of blue along the horizon could be water or distant hills. The turquoise sky above peeks through the canopies of the trees. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “WINSLOW HOMER. 1870.”

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Standing in the brilliant sunlight of midday, a young woman blows a metal horn to summon the farmhands in the nearby field to their noontime meal. Her feet rest at the end of a well-trod path, suggesting the repetitive nature of this task. A strong gust of wind blows across the foreground from the right, evidenced by Winslow Homer’s skillful depiction of the young woman’s raised, twisting skirt and floating dress strings. Only a narrow corner of the wooden structure to her left can be seen, revealing weathered wooden siding and the edge of a window frame. Thin vines studded with leaves and thorns climb the wall. Below, two potted plants and an overturned metal milk jug form a small still life.

Downhill from the wind-swept figure, a cluster of chickens and a cow are visible in the verdant middle ground. Further in the distance this grassy stretch turns golden brown, suggesting a field of harvested hay. On the far right edge of the field sits a domed haystack. A handful of men in bright shirts are at work nearby, one of whom maneuvers what appears to be a horse-drawn hay mower.

The Dinner Horn is the first in a series of works by Homer from the early 1870s that feature the trumpeting figure of a young woman. It is also an early example of the artist’s exploration of farming subjects. The work was first exhibited in 1871 under the title Blowing the Horn at Seaside.

More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I, pages 301-305, which is available as a free PDF at https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/american-paintings-19th-century-part-1.pdf

On View
West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M68
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon

  • Dimensions

    overall: 48.9 x 34.9 cm (19 1/4 x 13 3/4 in.)
    framed: 67.6 x 53.3 x 5.7 cm (26 5/8 x 21 x 2 1/4 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1994.59.2

More About this Artwork

Close to us, a young man and three boys sit or recline in a small sailboat that tips to our left on a choppy dark green sea in this horizontal painting. The billowing sail extends off the top left corner of the canvas and is echoed in the background to our right by the tall sails of another ship in the distance. The horizon line comes about a third of the way up the composition, and puffy gray and white clouds sweep across the turquoise sky. The sun lights the scene from our right so the boys’ ruddy faces are in shadow under their hats. The young man and boys all face our left so they lean against and into the boat as it cants up to our right. The boy nearest the sail to our left reclines across the bow. Next to him to our right, a younger boy perches on the edge of the boat and holds on with both hands. The oldest, in a red shirt, sits on the floor of the boat as he maneuvers the sail with a rope. Closer to us and to our right, a younger boy sits with his bare feet pressed together in front of his bent knees on the back edge of the boat, gazing into the distance over his right shoulder as he handles the tiller. The artist signed and dated the painting in dark letters in the lower right corner: “HOMER 1876.”

Interactive Article:  A New View for America’s Centennial

As the United States emerged from the Civil War, Winslow Homer spent years perfecting a painting to embody his hopes for America’s future. 

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Given by the artist to Charles Collins, New York state;[1] by descent in the Collins family to Virginia Collins Cronister [Mrs. Hugh M. Cronister], Cambridge, Vermont;[2] (sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 23 April 1981, no. 50, bought in); (Nicholas Hubby, Boston); Richard A. Manoogian, Grosse Point, Michigan; (Vose Galleries, Boston); sold May 1985 to Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia; gift 1994 to NGA.

[1] This provenance was given for the painting in the 1981 sale catalogue. However, The New York Times of 26 February 1871, reporting on the exhibition and sale at the Somerville Gallery on 23 February, lists a painting by Winslow Homer titled "Dinner Horn" as having sold for $150 to an unnamed buyer. This was probably the National Gallery painting, and Charles Collins was possibly the buyer.

[2] The provenance for the painting given in Lloyd Goodrich, edited and expanded by Abigail Booth Gerdts, Record of Works by Winslow Homer, New York, 2005: 2:no. 368, details the Collins family members who owned the painting: Charles Collins' niece, Mrs. Maria Collins Barton, Summit, New Jersey; her niece, Mrs. Sarah Louise Collins Davis, Florida, by 1974; her niece, Mrs. Cronister, by 1980.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1871

  • Winter Exhibition, National Academy of Design, New York, 1871-1872.

  • Annual Exhibition, Century Association, New York, January 1871, as Blowing the Horn at Seaside, no. 2 on manuscript list (no cat.).

  • Somerville Gallery, New York, February 1871, as The Dinner Horn.

1974

  • Loan for display with permanent collection, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, 1974-1981.

1995

  • Winslow Homer. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995-1996, no. 41, repro.

1999

  • An Enduring Legacy: Masterpieces from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1999-2000, no cat.

2005

  • Winslow Homer in the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2005-2006, unnumbered brochure, fig. 2.

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. 41.

1996

  • Kelly, Franklin, with Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr., Deborah Chotner, and John Davis. American Paintings of the Nineteenth Century, Part I. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 301-305, color repro.

1998

  • Haltman, Kenneth. "Antipastoralism in Early Winslow Homer" in Art Bulletin, Vol. LXXX, No. 1_. 1998: 102, repro. no. 19.

2005

  • Goodrich, Lloyd, and Abigail Booth Gerdts. Record of Works by Winslow Homer, vol. 2. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2005, no. 368.

Inscriptions

lower left: WINSLOW HOMER .1870.

Wikidata ID

Q20188727

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