The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

A Fisherman's Daughter

1873

Winslow Homer

(American, 1836–1910)
America
watercolor and gouache over graphite
Sheet: 24.2 x 32.9 cm (9 1/2 x 12 15/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1943.660
Location: Not on view

Description

Homer created some of the most luminous and influential watercolors in the history of the medium. A Fisherman’s Daughter, painted in Gloucester, Massachusetts, is among a group of works that represent his first sustained use of the medium. Here, three girls sit on the shore of a sunlit beach and play with a lobster. Their downcast eyes suggest a solemn tranquility to their activity. The life of the local fishermen was perilous; they often spent weeks away from home and were sometimes lost at sea. Thus, waiting was a central part of life for Gloucester families. An overturned boat on the dunes behind the figures evokes the ominous form of a coffin.
  • Edward M. Colie, East Orange, NJ
    Miss Margaret Colie, Mill Valley, CA
    (Macbeth Gallery, New York, NY)
    ?–1943
    (Valentine Gallery, New York, NY), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    December 29, 1943–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Conrads, Margaret C., and Winslow Homer. Winslow Homer and the Critics: Forging a National Art in the 1870s. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press in association with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2001. fig. 59, p. 76
    Burchfield, Louise H. “An Early Water Color by Winslow Homer.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 31, no. 7 (September 1944): 141–142, 145.
    Published as: Girls with Lobster Mentioned: p. 141-142; Reproduced: p.145 www.jstor.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 165
    Glaubinger, Jane and Lemonedes, Heather. “Treasures on Paper: The Crème de la crème of the museum’s prints and drawings collection is now on view.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 54, no. 2 (March/April 2014): 6-9. Reproduced: p.7 and Mentioned: p. 9 archive.org
  • Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
    Winslow Homer and the Critics: Forging a National Art in the 1870s. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO (organizer) (February 18-May 6, 2001); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (June 10-September 9, 2001).
    Washington, D. C., The National Gallery of Art, Winslow Homer: A Retrospective Exhibition (23 November 1958-4 January 1959); traveled to New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (29 January-8 March 1959)
    Water Colors by Winslow Homer. Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Buffalo, NY (organizer) (July 8-August 28, 1966).
    Winslow Homer: Portrait of America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 10, 1965-May 16, 1966).
    Homer and the Sea. The Mariners' Museum and Park, Newport News, VA (September 27-October 19, 1964); Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA (organizer) (October 30-November 29, 1964).
    The Work of Winslow Homer. Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA (organizer) (February 1-28, 1951); Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA (March 1-April 1, 1951).
  • {{cite web|title=A Fisherman's Daughter|url=false|author=Winslow Homer|year=1873|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.660