Art and Artifice

Breezing Up A Fair Wind

Oil Painting by Winslow Homer 1873-1876

Oil on canvas, 24 1/8 x 38 1/8. (61.5 x 97 cm)

"Winslow Homer's "Fair Wind" is perhaps the best sea-piece he has ever contributed to an Academy exhibition. It is painted in his customery coarse and negligé style, but suggests with unmistakable force the life and motion of a breezy summer day off the coast. The fishing boat, bending to the wind, seems to actually cleave to the waters. There is no truer or heartier work in the present exhibition."

New York Sun, April 30, 1876

Winslow Homer painted a 7 1/2 x 13 3/4 watercolor in 1873 "Sailing the Catboat" which is the starting point for Breezing Up. The smaller image features five young boys aboard the craft off Gloucester, Massachusetts, where Homer was staying at the Atlantic Hotel. During this time he was also contributing artwork to Harper's Weekly from his stay. One significant change from the smaller Catboat to the larger Breezing Up is the removal of one of the figures and replaced with an anchor at the bow.

Winslow Homer – Breezing Up, 1876

Winslow Homer – A Light on the Sea, 1897

Winslow Homer – Right and Left, 1909

Winslow Homer – Kissing the Moon, 1904