Eagle Head, Manchester, Massachusetts (High Tide)

Winslow Homer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the years after the Civil War, Homer often explored women’s new roles in society, especially their access to leisure. This representation of a quintessentially modern subject—women at the beach—confounded critics when it was first exhibited, in New York in 1870. Emerging after a swim, the woman at center wrings out her heavy bathing clothes and hair, as a small dog appears startled by the dripping water. Some viewers focused on issues of decorum and class, criticizing the women’s state of undress—even though they are wearing typical bathing costumes of the era—and one described them as "exceedingly red-legged and ungainly." A disquieting sense of voyeurism and mystery imbues the scene, amplified by the strong light and strange shadows, suggesting deeper meanings below the surface.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art