Winslow Homer: Intellectual History

Winslow Homer Dept: With thousands of miles of coastline, and a burgeoning immigrant population arriving by boat, that fear was vividly felt by millions of Americans in the 19th century, when shipwreck was not just something one read about in Shakespeare, but a common and terrifying disaster, claiming hundreds of lives every year, according to The Star. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has devoted an entire exhibition to the Homer work, analyzing a small subgenus of sea painting that turns out to have deep roots not just in the history of maritime art, but in philosophical, historical and political debates as well. Shipwreck! Winslow Homer and The Life Line brings together diverse strands of intellectual history, from the now largely forgotten tradition of life-saving and rescue along the Atlantic seacoast to the persistent question of American exceptionalism: Are we the sort of people who put women and children first, who will go to exceptional lengths to preserve life, or are we a dog-eat-dog nation, where every-man-for-himself is the ruling ethos and pHILADELPHIA Even today, when few people except professional sailors and fishermen are compelled to step foot on a boat, shipwreck is a powerful fear. Drowning may be a relatively painless way to go, but the idea of a cold, lonely death in a howling sea can make the most dedicated landlubber s spine tingle. In 1884, Winslow Homer painted a large and dynamic canvas that played on the fear and fascination of maritime disaster. The Life Line depicted the rescue of an unconscious woman by a heroic male figure whose face is obscured by a billowing red shawl. The two figures sprawl on a life chair, suspended from a taut life line that connects the ship to shore. They dangle precariously above a ferocious trough of churning waves, and with neither the wrecked boat nor the safe shore in sight, they seem suspended in time, not yet safe, but happily above the watery maw that foams and sprays all around them. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.