ACT Reading OG Test 1 - Passage III

The images in the paintings of Winslow Homer

epitomize a peculiarly American 19th-century world.

Through Homer’s eyes, it is a world in which people

live in close contact with nature and natural forces, a
₅ world where landscape and ocean are viewed not as a

paradise but as powers and presences that can be

enjoyed and whose threats can sometimes be overcome.

And, particularly in his later paintings, it is a world

imbued with a stark and melancholy atmosphere

₁₀ In 1867, two of Homer’s canases were chosen to

hang at the Great Exposition in Paris. The artist spent

months in the city, which later proved to have a pro-

found effect on his art. A large display of Japanes

prints was exhibited in the same building as his own
₁₅ paintings, .and the process. of simplification that it

revealed and the wealth of pictorial invention it pro­

vided made a deep impression on the artist. The influ­

ence of Japanese art on Homer’ s painting was

immediately apparent upon his return to the United
₂₀ States. The weakness of earlier compositions is

replaced by a boldness and lucidity in which simple

shapes are massed into powerful designs.

Although Homer’s work of the 1870s gained

strength, the artist continued to paint his genre subjects:
₂₅ tourist scences, schoolchildren, and farm life. It wasn’t

until 1881, however, that he found the subject matter

that would inspire him most. In that year for reasons

unknown, Homer went to England, where he elected to

spend the summer at the town of Tynemouth on the
₃₀ coast of the North Sea . It is possible that he was search­

ing for a town filled with the type of tourists and

bathers that made his paintings of the Jersey shore sue­

cessful back home. But Tynemouth was also a commu­

nity of fishermen who wrested their livelihood .from the
₃₅ dangerous and unpredictable waters of the North Sea.

Moreover, the light and weather in that part of the

world, so much farther north than Atlantic City, is

much gloomier and more dramatic than that of the

Jersey coast. It was there that Homer became enthralled
₄₀ by the dramas of the people who maketlieir living from

the ocean: the fishermen’ s wives staring out to sea as

they wait for their men, the launch of the lifeboat to

rescue sailors from a foundering ship, the agonizingly

fragile fishing boats being tossed on angry waves. Here
₄₅ at last a subject matter that matched the artist’s

deepest feelings. The dynanuc and dangerous relation­

ship between human activity and naturalforces exposed

in this setting would occupy Bomer for many years to

come. On his return to America he elected to leave New
₅₀ York and relocate to the rural town of Prouts Neck,

Maine.

The legend of Winslow Homer is that he left New

York civilization to become a recluse on the coast of

Maine for the last 25 years of his life. In reality, the
₅₅ property at Prouts Neck - which included a large, ram

bling hotel building - was, purchased by his brother

Charles for the whole extended Homer family. The

artist also built a studio with an ail ocean view just yards

away from the family house so throughout the summers
₆₀ he could enjoy the company of his father, his brothers

and their wives, as well as the year-round guests of

the many local people whose friendship he valued. Homer

continued to travel frequently, spending parts of the

winter in the Caribbean. But the artist always lived
₆₅ alone, and when he was weir king, which was the large

part of most of his days, he could be extremely short-

tempered when interrupt.

The sea outside his window now inspired the artist

to create what carrie to be known as his greatest paint-
₇₀ ings. The Maine .coast is extremelr rocky and prone to

monstrous gales that - at their most powerful - can

whip up the waves to 40 or 50 feet. Screaming winds

can rip across the breakers, creating long horizontal

trails of spray. Homer rendered this sea with all the
₇₅ understanding of a painter who knows to simplify and

synthesize. In paintings such as Eastern Point and

Cannon Rock the construction of the water has been

reorganized into clear graphic shapes and strong direc­

tional lines that echo the Japanese printmaking that had
₈₀ such a lasting effect on his work. The rocks in the

patntings are massed into powerful, almost flat, designs

and the brushing has become energetic, as though feed­

ing from the physical strengtn of the ocean. These

paintings take on an abstract gundeur that has justly
₈₅ made them famous. They remain, however, haunting

evocations of the eternal power of the ocean.