West India Divers

Winslow Homer, artist

1836–1910

West India Divers, 1899

Where object was made: Nassau, Bahamas

Material/technique: wove paper; watercolor; scraping; chalk

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 38.1 x 54.4 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 15 x 21 7/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 38.1 x 54.4 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 15 x 21 7/16 in
Frame Dimensions (Height x Width x Depth): 25 x 31 1/2 x 3 in
Weight (Weight): 15 lbs

Credit line: William Bridges Thayer Memorial

Accession number: 1928.1785

Not on display

Add to portfolio

If you wish to reproduce this image, please submit an image request

Images

Label texts

Spencer Museum of Art Highlights

Homer produced this watercolor while visiting the Bahamas between December 1898 and February 1899. The watercolors Homer created during this visit emphasize the native population’s involvement in daily tasks such as diving for conch.

Civic Leader and Art Collector: Sallie Casey Thayer and an Art Museum for KU

The late 19th-century tourism industry began promoting the Bahamas as a destination for affluent North Americans. Winslow Homer initially visited the islands on commission from Century Magazine in 1884–1885 to illustrate an article called “A Midwinter Resort.” During his second visit to the Bahamas in the winter of 1898–1899, Homer painted at least 25 watercolors. Like this one, many of these paintings focused on black Bahamian men and boys engaged in subsistence activities such as harvesting conch shells. Such scenes presented tropicalized images of “locals” and their “daily life” to white viewers and collectors in the United States, such as Sallie Casey Thayer. They seemed removed from increasingly industrialized urban centers like Kansas City.

Google Art Project