WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910)

The present work is part of a group of monochromatic Canadian scenes the artist completed in the mid-1890s. In the spring of 1893, Winslow Homer and his brother Charles made their first trip to Quebec, Canada, returning again in 1895, 1896 and 1902. Avid fishermen, they were drawn to the magnificent Saguenay River and the prized fishing located at Roberval on Lake St. John. The two joined the celebrated Tourilli Fish and Game Club in neighboring St. Raymond and built a small cabin by the lake. This leisure time in Quebec also left an important artistic impression on Homer, who gleaned inspiration from the local people and landscape. He wrote to his dealer in 1903, “As I shall go up for the spring fishing I will take my sketch block & will give you a full line of goods for next season.” (as quoted in M. Tedeschi, “A Special Union with Nature: The Adirondacks and Quebec,” Watercolors by Winslow Homer, exhibition catalogue, Chicago, Illinois, 2008, p. 165)

While in Canada, Homer opted for more tonal hues in lieu of his traditional vibrant palette. He painted a series of watercolors of the region in shades of black and gray in 1895, to which the present work is possibly related. Abigail Gerdts explains, “This purely monochromatic watercolor, is the only such dated by inscription to 1897, which prompts speculation linking it to the group of monochromatic Canadian scenes dated 1895 and exhibited that year (No. 1577 through No. 1589). It might have been begun in 1895 but only completed when Homer was forming plans for his exhibition.” (Records of Works by Winslow Homer, 1890-1910, vol. 5, New York, 2014, p. 239) Notable examples from the 1895 series include Fishermen in Quebec, Canada (Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York); Two Men in a Canoe (Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine) and Trout Fishing, Lake St. John, Quebec (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts).