The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

A Clam-Bake

1873

Winslow Homer

(American, 1836–1910)
America
watercolor, gouache, and graphite
Sheet: 19.7 x 34.6 cm (7 3/4 x 13 5/8 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Homer H. Johnson 1945.229
Location: Not on view

Description

During the first part of his career, Winslow Homer supported himself as an illustrator, but in the early 1870s he found that he could make a good living through the sale of his watercolors. His early watercolors, such as this one of boys on a beach at Gloucester, Massachusetts, show a tentative use of the technique and often have the effect of colored line drawings. Homer later combined the composition of this watercolor with other sketches to produce the illustration A Clam-Bake, which appeared in Harper's Weekly on August 23, 1873.
  • Burchfield, Louise. "Paintings by Winslow Homer." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 33, no. 9 (November 1946): 165-167. Mentioned: p. 166; Reproduced: p. 171 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 187 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 231 archive.org
  • Homer at the Beach. Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA (organizer) (August 2-December 1, 2019).
    Atlanta, GA: High Museum of Art; 10/6/01 - 1/6/02. "Winslow Homer and the Critics: Forging a National Art in the 1870s," fig. 48, p. 67.
    Winslow Homer and the Critics: Forging a National Art in the 1870s. High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA (October 6, 2001-January 6, 2002).
    American Drawings from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 19-July 12, 1998).
    Winslow Homer: Portrait of America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 10, 1965-May 16, 1966).
    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 Clam-Bake|url=false|author=Winslow Homer|year=1873|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1945.229