As I was browsing through the powerpoint of Adirondack paintings, one of Winslow Homer's watercolors caught my eye. It was titled "An October Day," and was completed in 1889. Coincidentally, it was one of Ianna's slides today in her Winslow Homer presentation, so we got to further analyze it beyond what I had thought about the night before sifting through the powerpoint.
I had originally chosen that painting as my favorite in the powerpoint not because of what Ianna talked about in her presenation but purely on the aesthetics of the painting itself. I was really amazed about the way Homer was able to portray the glassy water. It's like the reflection of the trees was immaculately transcribed right onto the still surface of the lake. Also, the way the deer is majestically positioned in the lake, leaving a trail of disturbed water lapping behind him, brings a component of life into the otherwise isolated and pristine landscape.
Giving the image a second look, I noticed the little man in the boat in the lefthand corner. As we talked about in class, we don't know whether this man is just observing the deer, or whether he hunting the deer. Regardless, the inclusion of this man nonetheless brings a human presence into the wild. In some of these scenic landscape paintings, I think we sometimes tend to forget the impact that humans had on the park.
Being interested by this painting, I looked up some of Homer's other Adirondack watercolor paintings and each one was more beautiful than the previous one. Watercolor seems to lend itself very well to the subject of Adirondack painting.
Giving the image a second look, I noticed the little man in the boat in the lefthand corner. As we talked about in class, we don't know whether this man is just observing the deer, or whether he hunting the deer. Regardless, the inclusion of this man nonetheless brings a human presence into the wild. In some of these scenic landscape paintings, I think we sometimes tend to forget the impact that humans had on the park.
Being interested by this painting, I looked up some of Homer's other Adirondack watercolor paintings and each one was more beautiful than the previous one. Watercolor seems to lend itself very well to the subject of Adirondack painting.
All photos from: http://www.geocities.ws/coverbridge2k/artsci/winslow_homer_adirondack_watercolors_2.html
The five Homer paintings you included in your post are really beautiful. I like that Homer chose to depict humans in each of these paintings. Humans have shaped the landscape of the Adirondacks in important and long lasting ways, and I think its important for them to be depicted in the paintings of the wilderness. Also, I think it is interesting that Homer doesn't depict frontal views of the humans; he always depicts their backs or side views. I think he does this because he is focusing on the environment in his paintings and he doesn't want the viewer to focus on the portraits which are his secondary focus.
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