Winslow Homer became one of the all-time leading figures in American art, known
for his marine genre paintings and for his espousing of
Realism, especially of American life. From the
1880s until his death in 1910, Winslow Homer's work was focused on
issues of mortality and the forces of nature such as violent storms at
sea. Winslow Homer was one of the most well known artists to come out of
the Civil War.
Like all artists who work alone, Winslow Homer matured slowly, and as he
matured, he lost interest in portrayals of the land and children. In
1883, Winslow Homer moved from New York to Maine where he set up a
studio close to the wild and rocky coast and began his series of
watercolors of the sea and its people, before finally losing interest in
people altogether, and confining himself almost entirely to "the lonely
sea and the sky." His watercolors are so powerful that it is difficult
to believe that Homer was himself "a small, reserved gentleman, quiet
and unostentatious." His view of nature was severe and, even in the
scenes of tropical waters, brilliant in color, indicative of his belief
that man himself is nothing in comparison to the vastness of the ocean
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