Winslow Homer
Waiting an Answer
1871
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Winslow Homer
Waiting an Answer
1871
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, Unframed: 12 1/2 x 17 in. (31.8 x 43.2 cm) Framed: 20 1/2 x 25 5/8 x 2 1/2 in. (52.1 x 65.1 x 6.4 cm)
Credit Line
The Peabody Art Collection. Courtesy of the Maryland Commission on Artistic Property of the Maryland State Archives. MSA SC 4680-10-0034.
Object Number
L.1924.25.16
Winslow Homer focused on the theme of agricultural labor
in this painting. In Waiting an Answer, the young farmer pauses
his work to gaze steadily at the young woman before him. Placing the subjects
in a rural setting, Homerdrew on the affinity of wealthy, white,
urban collectors for idealized scenes set in nature. Works such as this offered
an escape from the economic upheavals and social changes in the years following
the American Civil War (1861–1865). Yet the youthful demeanor of the figures
in the painting alludes to a missing generation of older farmers who did not
return from battle.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum." Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.
Byrd, Dana E. and Frank H. Goodyear III. "Winslow Homer and the Camera: Photography and the Art of Painting." Brunswick, ME: Bowdoin College Museum of Art, 2018.
Inscribed: RECTO: Lower left, "Homer / 1872"
On View at the BMA
