To love a painting is to feel that this presence is… not an object but a voice.
~ Andre Malraux ~
Weatherbeaten
by
Winslow Homer
and
His Home
I first fell in love with Winslow Homer’s work, when I went looking for a gift for Melody, and settled on one of his prints. His work primarily captures bold images from the two parts of the world that I now inhabit, I am sure a coincidence.
Last fall, Kate, my sister, Caroline, and her husband, Doug, and I went on a tour of his home/studio, outside of Portland, in Prouts Neck, Maine, that is now under the conservatorship of the Portland Museum of Art.
I think we would all agree that one of the most remarkable moments, from that experience, was when our guide pointed out the vistas that Homer had captured on canvas, as we walked along his beach.
The tour is pricy, something I believe even the museum would admit, but it was quite an unforgettable moment, and until you are able to make it to Portland, here is a peek at what we saw, as we were permitted to photograph the home.
His house from the road
His house from the sea
“Snakes, Snakes, and Mice” – Homer’s attempt to keep the tourist away
Plates painted by his mother
I love signs
A view from the stairs, of the main room
Keys held in a master’s hand?
Looking toward the sea, from his second floor studio
His name scratched into the window pane (this photograph is from the brochure we were given at the end of the tour, as my picture of the window does not show the artists writing
St. James, an Episcopal church that the Homer family helped support
High Coast Cliff of Main inspiration?
So very beautiful
To see more of his work:
http://www.winslowhomer.org/winslow-homer-paintings.jsp
http://www.portlandmuseum.org/homer
Art can never exist without naked beauty displaced.
~ William Blake ~
