Ship-Building, Gloucester Harbor (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. XVII)
October 11, 1873
Medium
Wood engraving
Dimensions
image: 9 3/8 x 13 3/4 in. (23.8 x 34.9 cm) sheet: 10 3/16 x 16 in. (25.9 x 40.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928
Accession Number
29.88.9(8)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Winslow Homer’s “Ship-Building, Gloucester Harbor,” published in Harper’s Weekly on October 11, 1873, captures the lively industry of a Massachusetts shipyard. In this wood engraving, men and boys work together amid partially constructed vessels, their figures silhouetted against the harbor’s calm water and distant masts. Homer, already celebrated for his Civil War illustrations, here turns his eye to the everyday rhythms of American labor, recording the skill and cooperation required to build the nation’s fishing and trading fleet. The choice of wood engraving was essential to its purpose. C...
About the Artist
Winslow Homer|Harper's Weekly|Harper & Brothers · 1836–1910
Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was one of America's greatest painters and a preeminent figure in 19th-century American art. Largely self-taught, Homer began his career as a commercial illustrator and Civil War correspondent for Harper's Weekly before becoming renowned for his powerful marine subjects and landscape paintings. His mastery of both oil and watercolor, combined with his uncompromising reali...