Shark Fishing
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Homer was fascinated by the daily lives of Bahamians and made a series of watercolors showing them engaged in their work at sea. For islanders who made their living on the water, sharks were both prey and predator. A contest between humans and nature is captured in this scene of two fishermen attempting to reel in a large shark. During Homer’s visit to the Bahamas, the local newspaper reported that a shark "measuring about eleven feet" was caught and brought to the Royal Victoria Hotel—where the painter was staying—for inspection. A similarly posed shark appears in preparatory studies he made fifteen years later when developing the composition for The Gulf Stream.
Artwork Details
- Title: Shark Fishing
- Artist: Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
- Date: 1885
- Culture: American
- Medium: Watercolor on paper
- Dimensions: 13 7/8 x 20 in. (35.2 x 50.8 cm)
Framed: 30 3/4 x 24 1/2 x 2 in. (78.1 x 62.2 x 5.1 cm) - Credit Line: Mr. and Mrs. Stan Druckenmiller
- Rights and Reproduction: Kent Pell
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing