海角大神

People think they know the work of American artist Winslow Homer. His boisterous paintings of the Atlantic coast and of scenes such as barefoot boys playing a game of Snap the Whip are comfortingly familiar to many art lovers. But Homer (1836-1910) also made paintings that challenged viewers, both in his time and now in ours, to wrestle with the effects of racism and inequality.聽

鈥淭here鈥檚 a different Winslow Homer for every age,鈥� says Sylvia Yount, who, along with Stephanie Herdrich, curated the exhibition 鈥淲inslow Homer: Crosscurrents鈥� at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In an interview, the curators explained that they wanted to introduce Homer to the next generation, which involves tying the preoccupations of his day to those of our own.聽

The exhibition presents 88 oils and watercolors as proof of Homer鈥檚 sociopolitical concerns, hinting at a more profound dimension to his art. The common traits are tension, ambiguity, and, in his paintings of Black figures 鈥撀爓hich constitute a small but potent aspect of the exhibition 鈥� an insistence upon investing those images with the same realism that he displayed in painting white subjects.

Homer began his career in the 1860s as an illustrator and war correspondent for Harper鈥檚 Weekly, and the period he lived through was turbulent. The nation broke apart during the Civil War (1861-65) and tried (and in many ways failed) to find a path forward during Reconstruction (1865-77). Although the artist left scant record of his convictions about race, his paintings of Black people are unlike those of his contemporaries.聽

His images were 鈥渞eally bold, really different,鈥� says Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, associate professor of art history at the University of Pennsylvania. In an interview, she explains that before Emancipation, artists had elicited sympathy for enslaved people by portraying them on the auction block, for example. But the market for such work evaporated after the mid-1860s, when, she says, 鈥淰ery few fine art painters continued to paint Black subjects.鈥� Caricatures derived from minstrel shows appeared in paintings, but 鈥渋t was really unusual for Homer to stake so much on Black subjects connected to Reconstruction,鈥� Professor Shaw says.聽

An early work, 鈥淣ear Andersonville鈥� (1866), is laden with symbolism. An enslaved Black woman stands at the threshold of a shack, emerging from darkness to confront an unknown future. In the background, Confederate soldiers march Union captives off to a notorious prison camp, Andersonville in Georgia, where nearly 13,000 prisoners of war died under horrific conditions. Ten years later, Homer painted 鈥淎 Visit From the Old Mistress,鈥� an uncomfortable scene in which three Black women receive their former white enslaver with stoic dignity.聽

鈥淒ressing for the Carnival鈥� (1877) demonstrates that Homer 鈥渋s trying to immerse himself in a scene of Black life that seems authentic,鈥� Professor Shaw says, 鈥渘ot a minstrel show onstage, not a saccharine, Currier and Ives scene of happy slaves dancing beside the river.鈥� She adds, 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not performing for you. Rather, they鈥檙e living their daily lives.鈥�

When Homer visited the Bahamas in 1885, his palette lightened and brightened. It鈥檚 difficult to view his dazzling watercolors, full of edenic tropical foliage and sunny reflections on turquoise water, as anything other than benign. But even here, he suggests an undertow of disharmony.聽

鈥淎 Garden in Nassau鈥� (1885) implies social stratification and exclusion. A Black child stands outside a wall enclosing a private garden, looking at a coconut palm waving in the breeze. 鈥淗omer鈥檚 edits to ... the composition really give us insight into the meaning of [the] work and shift the tone,鈥� Ms. Herdrich says. Originally Homer included two Black youths who climbed the wall to snatch coconuts. After Homer deleted them, she says, 鈥渢here鈥檚 a completely different sentiment.鈥� The mood is poignant, with a young child isolated outside a lush garden most likely belonging to a white landowner.

Homer鈥檚 watercolors from the Bahamas exult in scenes of strong Black men on boats in their quotidian labor of diving for sponges, coral, and conchs. Yet the sensuality of the scenes doesn鈥檛 negate his eyewitness rendering of slavery鈥檚 aftermath. 鈥淗omer is not looking at the luxury grounds of his hotel as a tourist,鈥� Ms. Herdrich points out. 鈥淗e鈥檚 exploring the Black settlements of Nassau [and] showing in an aestheticized way the harsh realities of a post-slave economy.鈥�

The culmination of Homer鈥檚 two visits to the Bahamas was his masterpiece, 鈥淭he Gulf Stream鈥� (1899, reworked 1906). Professor Shaw sees the painting of an imperiled but resolute Black man, in a dismasted, rudderless boat surrounded by sharks, as the opposite of Homer鈥檚 optimistic early work, 鈥淏reezing Up: A Fair Wind鈥� (1873-76). In the latter, white children steer a catboat heeling at a rakish angle. Yet they鈥檙e in control of their direction and destiny, 鈥渆njoying their mastery over nature,鈥� Professor Shaw says.

The composition of 鈥淭he Gulf Stream鈥� bristles with symbols related to slavery. In the earlier version, depictions of sugar cane on the deck were minor. By giving them prominence in the latter version, Homer suggests the role of the Gulf Stream in the trafficking of enslaved people and the transportation of the product of their labor, sugar.

As an allegory of relentless nature and humans surrounded by insurmountable forces, the meaning of 鈥淭he Gulf Stream鈥� is unclear: Is Homer signaling fortitude in the face of adversity, or resignation? 鈥淗is intention was for its meaning to be uncertain,鈥� Ms. Herdrich says, 鈥渁nd to challenge us.鈥�

鈥淭he genius of Homer is his ambiguity,鈥� Ms. Yount says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what makes his art speak to us today.鈥澛�

Ms. Herdrich agrees. 鈥淭he relevance of the questions Homer asks is foundational and fundamental to our country, and [they] really resonate today,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檒l be asking different questions in a different moment, and that鈥檚 the mark of a truly compelling artist.鈥�

William Cross, author of a new biography, 鈥淲inslow Homer: American Passage,鈥� says in an interview that Homer 鈥渢old truths that are sometimes painful, but he was unflinching in his examination of who we are.鈥澛�

Homer himself, in Cross鈥� examination, was a man of 鈥渕any images but few words.鈥� In a rare utterance on his work, Homer scoffed at a critic who praised Homer鈥檚 technical bravura, insisting to his dealer in 1902 that the picture in question 鈥渋s not intended to be 鈥榖eautiful.鈥� There are certain things (unfortunately for critics) that are stern facts but are worth recording as a matter of history.鈥澛�

鈥淲inslow Homer: Crosscurrents鈥� continues at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through July 31. A smaller version travels to London鈥檚 National Gallery as 鈥淲inslow Homer: Force of Nature鈥� from Sept. 10, 2022, through Jan. 8, 2023.