West India Divers, Winslow Homer

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.

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.

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.

Sallie Casey Thayer purchased three works by Winslow Homer for her collection. The watercolor West India Divers and oil painting Cloud Shadows came from Young’s Art Galleries in Chicago, and the watercolor Among the Oaks from the Macbeth Gallery in New York. Both galleries featured watercolors and paintings by American artists, and Young’s was one of the few Chicago galleries that actively supported Homer’s work. Thayer acquired West India Divers in May 1910, just months before Homer’s death. She then acquired Cloud Shadows two years later, in February 1912, and Among the Oaks in March 1913. Her acquisitions came at a time when collectors, critics, scholars, and museums hailed Homer as a distinctive and prominent American artist. Along with the artworks, Thayer bought the contemporary biography The Life and Works of Winslow Homer (1911) by William Howe Downes. While reviewing the memorial exhibition shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1911, A. E. Gallatin, a well-known critic, curator, collector, and artist, endorsed Homer’s art as “typically American,” and the artist, “in many respects…the most representative painter that this country has produced.”

Tap the image above and swipe to view details of West India Divers. Tap the Related icon to view two other Homer works on display in the exhibition.

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.