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

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John Berger's Ways of Seeing is a famous art instruction on seeing art through a new awareness of elements that get overlooked or are somehow obscure for the casual viewer. The book was first published in 1972 and based on the BBC television series. The Sunday Times critic commented: "This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings . . . he will almost certainly change the way you look at pictures." AMAZON

"The Complete Watercolor Guide for Beginners: The Ultimate Course with Exercises and Step-by-Step Projects Perfect Even If You’re New to Watercolor" AMAZON

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THE ODYSSEY: With the Greek on one side and the English on the other side this edition allows for easy reading while also opportunities to peruse the original Greek - "the classic parallel text version of Homer." Translation by Augustus Taber Murray (1866–1940) Professor of Greek at Stanford University and George Edward Dimock (1917–2000), Professor of Classical Languages and Literature at Smith College.

Homer was probably born around 725BC and he is from a long line of bards and poets who practiced the oral tradition of storytelling. .AMAZON

"This lavishly produced volume explores Matisse’s lifelong reinvention of art through some fifty works, six extraordinary fold-out spreads, and illuminating essays."AMAZON

172 Pages - Dimensions ‏ ‎ 8.81 x 0.98 x 10.69 inches

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