Winslow Homer
Mending the Tears
1888

About the Item

Winslow Homer created this etching entitled “MENDING THE TEARS” in 1888. This is a lifetime impression signed by Homer and printed by the famous New York etcher George W. H. Ritchie. This piece is signed in pencil “Winslow Homer, N.A.” in the lower left above the etched remarque of an anchor. Etched above the image (top left) is “Copyright, 1888 by Winslow Homer N.Y.” and (top right) “G. W. H. Ritchie Imp.” Also etched in the plate (lower right) “Winslow Homer Sc.” ). The printed image size 15.25 x 21.5" (38.8 x 54.5 cm) plus margins – printed on Japan paper. This item is in very good condition and framed in 2.25 inch scooped molding finished in gold leaf with a rag stock bevel (mat edge) wrapped in metal leaf and rag stock top mat wrapped in silk. Glazed in TruVue Museum Glass. “Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was one of America's great artists of the 19th century and the sea was his greatest subject. After the Civil War, he spent time in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where he painted fishermen at work and their children playing in the harbor. In 1881-1882 he lived on the northeast coast of England at Cullercoats near Tynemouth. It was a poor, hard-working community of fisherfolk who made their living and sometimes lost their lives on the sea. Homer captured dramatic moments of search and rescue that he witnessed on the stormy North Atlantic. To the end of his life, Homer lived and worked on the coast of Maine at Prout's Neck, spending winters in the Caribbean, and continuing his artistic pursuit of the sea. Beginning in 1886, when Homer was fifty years old, he produced a series of large etchings that number among the greatest of the nineteenth century. Their context was the Etching Revival that began in France and spread to England and the United States, claiming major contributions by J. A. M. Whistler and Mary Cassatt. Homer had begun his career at the age of eighteen as an apprentice lithographer. An accomplished graphic illustrator during the Civil War era, Homer is best known for his wood engravings created for Harper's Weekly. However, the eight large etchings that he created from 1886-89 are exceptional works that he regarded as equal to his paintings in quality and significance. Homer based his etchings on sea pictures that he had created several years earlier between 1883 and 1886. The etchings are not literal copies of their sources; they subtly revise and simplify the original designs to dramatic effect.” -The Grand Rapids Art Museum. From “Winslow Homer: Survival and the Sea.”

Creator:
Winslow Homer (1836 - 1910, American)
Creation Year:
1888
Dimensions:
Height: 29 in (73.66 cm)Width: 34 in (86.36 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
Medium:
Etching
Movement & Style:
American Impressionist
Period:
1880-1889
Condition:
Very good condition and beautifully framed to museum standards.
Gallery Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
Seller: #159021stDibs: LU33126481482
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