The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 37, no. 4
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 37, no. 4
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v. 37, no. 4
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WINSLOW HOMER Eight Bells, 1887<br />
NATHANIEL CURRIER Clipper Ship Red Jacket, 1855<br />
Eight large-plate etchings created between<br />
1884 and 1889, including Eight Bells,<br />
represent the culmination <strong>of</strong> Homer's<br />
experience with printmaking. Though<br />
based on oils and watercolors, the etchings<br />
were <strong>no</strong>t literal translations, as Homer consistently<br />
edited and recreated details to produce<br />
compositions that emphasized linear<br />
figures, but also eliminated much <strong>of</strong> the<br />
surrounding detail <strong>of</strong> the original painting.<br />
In contrast to many <strong>of</strong> his contemporaries,<br />
Homer was interested in the<br />
quality <strong>of</strong> his etched lines. <strong>The</strong>refore, his<br />
plates were cleanly printed, with little ink<br />
left on their surfaces. Here, silhouetting<br />
the figures against the more lightly etched<br />
Homer started his artistic career as a<br />
draftsman in the Boston lithography firm<br />
<strong>of</strong> John H. Bufford, but his best-k<strong>no</strong>wn<br />
graphic images are those he produced for<br />
Harper's Weekly and other illustrated periodicals<br />
starting during the Civil War and<br />
continuing until 1874. In the intervening<br />
ten years, he devoted his time to painting,
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