Distressed Boat (Sketch for "The Gulf Stream") (recto); Floor Plan Diagram; Elevation of a domestic residence (verso)

Winslow Homer

1885 · Graphite on paper · The American Wing

Homer may have recorded this scene of a boat in distress as he was sailing between the Bahamas and Cuba in early 1885. Rapidly drawn in a sketchbook (from which it has been removed), it seems to record his initial impression of the disaster that inspired the painting The Gulf Stream fifteen years later. Here, a dismasted boat with one or two figures on deck is tossed on rough seas as it heads into an ominous storm. Homer would also incorporate elements of this composition into the watercolor Sharks (1885, Brooklyn Museum).

Artist

Winslow Homer

Date

1885

Medium

Graphite on paper

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Morris K. Jesup Fund, 2016