Artist: Winslow Homer (1836–1910)
Title: Three Fisher Girls, Tynemouth
Date: 1881
Medium: watercolor over graphite pencil on wove paper
Dimensions: height: 19.8 cm (7.8 in); width: 48.9 cm (19.2 in)
Collection: National Gallery of Art
The above image is one of my favorite watercolors by Winslow Homer. In Three Fisher Girls, Tynemouth, Winslow Homer captures the personalities and the youth of the girls who comb the cold beach for shellfish. The viewer wonders, are they good friends, or perhaps sisters? Rain has darkened the day and scarves protect their ears from the wind, yet they’ve rolled their sleeves up and fish in their ordinary work dresses. These hardy young women feed their family, and perhaps they gather enough extra to sell.
About this Image, Via Wikipedia:
Homer spent two years (1881–1882) in the English coastal village of Cullercoats, Tyne and Wear. Many of the paintings at Cullercoats took as their subjects working men and women and their daily heroism, imbued with a solidity and sobriety which was new to Homer’s art, presaging the direction of his future work. He wrote, “The women are the working bees. Stout hardy creatures.” His works from this period are almost exclusively watercolors. His palette became constrained and sober; his paintings larger, more ambitious, and more deliberately conceived and executed. His subjects more universal and less nationalistic, more heroic by virtue of his unsentimental rendering. Although he moved away from the spontaneity and bright innocence of the American paintings of the 1860s and 1870s, Homer found a new style and vision which carried his talent into new realms.
About the Artist, via Wikipedia
Winslow Homer never taught in a school or privately, as did Thomas Eakins, but his works strongly influenced succeeding generations of American painters for their direct and energetic interpretation of man’s stoic relationship to an often neutral and sometimes harsh wilderness. Robert Henri called Homer’s work an “integrity of nature”.American illustrator and teacher Howard Pyle revered Homer and encouraged his students to study him. His student and fellow illustrator, N. C. Wyeth (and through him Andrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth), shared the influence and appreciation, even following Homer to Maine for inspiration. The elder Wyeth’s respect for his antecedent was “intense and absolute” and can be observed in his early work Mowing (1907). Perhaps Homer’s austere individualism is best captured in his admonition to artists: “Look at nature, work independently, and solve your own problems.” [1]
Credits and Attributions:
Image: Three Fisher Girls, Tynemouth, by Winslow Homer 1881 [Public domain] watercolor over graphite on wove paper, via Wikimedia Commons (accessed January 16, 2025).
[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Winslow Homer,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Winslow_Homer&oldid=1253319847 (accessed January 17, 2025).
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 
I’ve always enjoyed Winslow Homer’s paintings. There’s a poignancy to their narratives that really draws the viewer in.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello Alethea! I so agree. Winslow Homer had the gift of telling a story with one image. His brushwork is superb–he truly understood watercolors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Do you paint? I sometimes think about taking a class. I don’t have a natural talent for it, but I think it would be fun to explore someday.
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, but my sister is a fabulous artist. Her genre is Christmas and decorative art. I make fantasy maps for myself and fellow authors (which I love doing) and draw caricatures/cartoons, but that is the extent of it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like you both have the art gene in different expressions. I’m glad you find such joy through it.
LikeLike
I love this. There’s such a story in this painting. Questions asked, too.
Are they just arriving to start work, or on their way home? Are they discussing the weather? Will it mean they can’t work? What if their catch was small? Should they work longer and risk the coming storm? Are they disagreeing about what to do?
So much going on here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, Vivienne! Now you’ve inspired me to write a short story!
LikeLike
That’s what I thought, too.
LikeLike
And the most interesting thing about multiple authors getting ideas from the same prompt is how different the final stories will be. I love it!
LikeLiked by 1 person