Description
Long inspired by the sea, Winslow Homer spent time in 1881 in a fishing community in Tynemouth, England. The experience fundamentally changed his life and work. His paintings thereafter focused almost exclusively on humankind’s age-old contest with nature. In The Herring Net, executed in Prouts Neck, Maine, Homer depicted the heroic efforts of fishermen at their daily work. In a small dory, one figure hauls in glistening herring, while the other, possibly a boy, unloads the catch. Laboring far from the schooners on the horizon, the pair strives to steady the precarious boat as it rides the incoming swells.
Provenance
Charles W. Gould, New York, by 1908 to 1915; M. Knoedler and Company, New York, 1915; sold to Martin A. Ryerson (1856–1932), Chicago, 1915; by descent to his wife Carrie Hutchinson Ryerson (1859–1937), Chicago, 1932 [<em>Last Will and Testament of Martin A. Ryerson, Died August 11, 1932</em>, copy in Institutional Archives, Art Institute of Chicago]; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1937.
Dimensions
76.5 × 122.9 cm (30 1/8 × 48 3/8 in.)
Movement / Period
Accession No
25865
Official Citations
Curatorial Affinity Stream
Continuing the Universe of Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910)
Impressionism • Prouts Neck • Harmonious Works & Contemporaries
Continuous Discovery