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Distressed Boat (Sketch for "The Gulf Stream") (recto); Floor Plan Diagram; Elevation of a domestic residence (verso)

Winslow Homer American
1885
Not on view
Homer may have recorded this scene of a boat in distress as he was sailing between the Bahamas and Cuba in early 1885. Rapidly drawn in a sketchbook (from which it has been removed), it seems to record his initial impression of the disaster that inspired the painting The Gulf Stream fifteen years later. Here, a dismasted boat with one or two figures on deck is tossed on rough seas as it heads into an ominous storm. Homer would also incorporate elements of this composition into the watercolor Sharks (1885, Brooklyn Museum).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Distressed Boat (Sketch for "The Gulf Stream") (recto); Floor Plan Diagram; Elevation of a domestic residence (verso)
  • Artist: Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
  • Date: 1885
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Graphite on paper
  • Dimensions: 4 × 6 5/16 in. (10.2 × 16 cm)
    Framed: 16 1/4 x 21 1/4 in. (41.3 x 54 cm)
  • Credit Line: Morris K. Jesup Fund, 2016
  • Object Number: 2016.1
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

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Annie Lawrie (Sheet music cover), Winslow Homer American, Lithograph
Annie Lawrie (Sheet music cover)
Multiple artists/makers
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Sunday Morning in Virginia – From the Painting by Winslow Homer in the National Academy of Design (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. XXIV), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
Sunday Morning in Virginia – From the Painting by Winslow Homer in the National Academy of Design (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. XXIV)
Winslow Homer
May 22, 1880
A Quiet Day in the Country (from "Appleton's Journal," Vol. III), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
A Quiet Day in the Country (from "Appleton's Journal," Vol. III)
Winslow Homer
D. Appleton & Co.
June 6, 1870
George Blake's Letter (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. IX), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
George Blake's Letter (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. IX)
Winslow Homer
January 1870
"I Cannot! It Would Be a Sin! A Fearful Sin!" (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. VI), Winslow Homer American, Wood engraving
"I Cannot! It Would Be a Sin! A Fearful Sin!" (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. VI)
Winslow Homer
September 1868

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