Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was an American watercolor and oil painter, illustrator, outdoorsman, and Civil War correspondent. Born in Boston, he traveled the world and settled in coastal Maine. Of all his work, my favorites are his dense, forested Adirondack landscapes. I recently went to an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, showing primarily Homer’s watercolor work, which is rarely shown because of light concerns. It was wonderful to see them up close and to be able to trace his development as a watercolorist and see how he experimented and chose different techniques.
Here are some things that struck me in the exhibit.
My partner pointed out that Homer’s work is not much larger than mine. The largest works were about a quarter-sheet, which is the “big” size I’m currently working up to, and many smaller than that. I still want to make quarter-sheets, but it’s a relief to know watercolor doesn’t need to be that large to be great.
Homer cropped his work sometimes after the fact to improve composition. The museum showed one piece where, beneath the mat, there were a bunch of “X”s where Homer had crossed out bits he wanted to cover up.
When he was pleased with a painting Homer sometimes wrote little approving comments at the edge or the back of the painting. “This is good!” “This will do the business.” Very endearing.
The Palette
A physical paint box was displayed in the exhibit but most of the pans were unidentifiable. A few still had labels on so I know he used “Winsor & Newton Moist Colour”, the first-ever line of watercolor pans, which were launched in 1835 and boast glycerine as a humectant to keep them “moist”. The labeled colors were Indian Red and Vermilion.
The color list below is based on a 1980 analysis from the Journal of the American Institute of Conversation which uses X-ray and chromatography to examine one of Homer’s later paint boxes, preserved by Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. Here’s a photo of the 20-pan palette.
It’s hard to see, but there are handwritten labels identifying the colors in the mixing areas. Given the JAIC analysis (and visual eyeballing of the colors), these do not seem to exactly correspond with the colors currently in the slots, and some have been written over a few times. But they give an idea of what colors he used in general. I think I can see:
- Antwerp Blue
- P. Green (Prussian Green?)
- Sepia
- Cadmium
- I. Y. (Indian Yellow)
- Chrome Orange
- V— (near the browns – Vandyke?)
- C. Lake (Crimson Lake?)
- I. Red (Indian Red)
- L….d (Light Red?)
- V….. (Vermilion?)
The JAIC analysis states that the identified colors “cannot be associated with specific colors sold in the later nineteenth century and the earlier part of this century by Winsor and Newton,” but that won’t stop me! I took a look at a scan of an antique 1848 Winsor & Newton catalogue with color names, and guessed at what I think they may be. I could be wrong as many colors used the same pigments as each other and I don’t know what they actually used or looked like.
Here is my best guess at the colors, with some substituted for modern hues.
| My Guessed 19th C WN Paint | My Suggested Modern Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Vandyke Brown (NBr8) | Vandyke Brown (PBr7) |
| Burnt Umber (PBr6) | Burnt Umber (PBr7) |
| Terre Verte (celadonite) | Terre Verte (PG23) |
| Antwerp Blue or Prussian Blue (PB27) | Antwerp Blue or Prussian Blue (PB27) |
| Burnt Carmine or Purple Madder? (“dull violet-brown” red lake from “alizarin and a lesser amount of carminic acid”) | Perylene Violet (PV29) may be a good color match? |
| Indian Yellow (NY20) | Indian Yellow hue or any orange-yellow |
| Hooker’s Green No. 1 (“yellow-green” Prussian Blue + gamboge) | Hooker’s Green or self-mix with Prussian Blue + orange-yellow |
| Prussian Green (“dark green” Prussian Blue + gamboge) | Prussian Green (Prussian blue mix) or Perylene Green (PBk31) |
| Crimson Lake (“bright red” red lake from “carminic acid and a lesser amount of alizarin”) | Quin Red (PV19) or another rose or crimson |
| Ivory Black | any black or gray |
| Indian Red | Indian Red (PR101) |
| Vermilion Orange (“orange” from HgS, mercury sulfide/cinnabar) | Pyrrol Orange (PO73) or mixed red-orange |
| Chrome Orange (PO21) | Benzimidazolone Orange (PO62) or another orange |
| Vermilion (“orange-red” from HgS, mercury sulfide/cinnabar) | Pyrrol Scarlet (PR255) or another scarlet |
| Light Red (“rust orange” made from hematite) | Light Red (PR102) |
| Sepia (NBr9) | Sepia (PBr7 + black) |
| Cadmium Yellow (PY35) (“orange yellow”) | Cadmium Yellow Deep (PY35) |
Some thoughts:
Only one blue: Prussian! Even the premixed greens are made from Prussian Blue. Many of our standard blues like Phthalo had not yet been invented. Ultramarine Blue and Cobalt Blue existed, but I wonder if cost was an issue, or if Homer simply did not like them.
There is no cool/lemon yellow, only orangey yellows.
Clearly, red and orange were important colors! Indeed, many of Homer’s compositions involve surprising flashes of red – red shirts and stockings on figures, random bits of red in foliage.
Jane Mason argues:
He uses red as a magic wand to pull your eye through the composition.
Jane Mason on Winslow Homer
Unfortunately, some of these reds are likely the biggest culprits when it comes to fading, especially the red lakes made from alizarin (from madder root) and carminic acid (from cochineal). This is one reason that Homer’s original watercolors are rarely shown publicly, and the exhibit was kept in dim light.
The Portland Museum of Art is having a different Homer exhibit next summer, which will focus on his etchings – an area that this exhibit didn’t touch on. He was a prolific guy, for sure. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get up to Maine and check it out!
Comments
2 responses to “Artist Palette Profiles: Winslow Homer”
The antique Winsor & Newton catalog is so intriguing. Pigment industry has developed a lot since 1850s. Painters didn’t have many pigments that are people’s must-have today, like phthalos, quins, azos. It was almost impossible to find colors balanced in non-toxicity, cost, lightfastness, and high-chroma in the 1848 catalog. I can’t even imagine how 19-century watercolorists worked without those lately synthesized pigments, especially for painting landscape. I guess floral painters at that time might be less restricted by the paints. However, it would be a wonderful challenge for modern watercolorists to try such an antique watercolor palette. I’m curious if you gonna try the Homer inspired palette?
Yeah, it must have been so difficult to choose a good palette! Lightfastness was not really in the cards, which I suppose freed painters up to choose colors they liked without worrying too much about it.
I’m dipping into “Winslow Homer inspired” here and there, especially with the use of Prussian Blue, some kind of warm yellow, and some kind of earth red/orange. I actually don’t have most of the browns (I painted them out from dot cards).