Fishing Boats, Key West

Fishing Boats, Key West

Winslow Homer

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Although Homer’s title identifies this watercolor as Key West, Florida, it appears to show typical Bahamian fishing boats. From the seventeenth century, Bahamians had frequently traveled back and forth to Florida, and Key West is only about 280 miles west of Nassau, across the Gulf Stream. Following the U.S. Civil War, many Black Bahamians migrated to Key West, where they found familiar work (including turtling and salvaging). Here, Homer achieved brilliant atmospheric effects through the rapid application of fluid washes and the carefully calculated use of his white paper, which he reserved to indicate the boat’s side, sails, and light reflecting on the water. Lyrical graphite lines, especially evident in the rigging and sails, seem to imply a sea breeze.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.