{"data":{"id":25865,"api_model":"artworks","api_link":"https:\/\/api.artic.edu\/api\/v1\/artworks\/25865","is_boosted":true,"title":"The Herring Net","alt_titles":null,"thumbnail":{"lqip":"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhCAAFAPUAACkcEzYsGz00JkJCM0BHPVJFM1hGMllJNkVOQFVVQ1JVRVVaTWxeSGBfUGlhT2lkUmhmVmJoVmZnWW9qWWttXXppUYBqUIVuU4VwVot1Vox1VIdxWIp1WI52XI14XI15X5B5XJB6XZV+XouDaJiCZIOIcI+VfpuQdAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAAIAAUAAAYlQMsF4yGFQJlN51M5cESah8NQADBOowZEEBhQTKWJhIBIRBaKIAA7","width":9953,"height":6124,"alt_text":"Painting of two fishermen in small wooden boat on rocky seas."},"main_reference_number":"1937.1039","has_not_been_viewed_much":false,"boost_rank":null,"date_start":1885,"date_end":1885,"date_display":"1885","date_qualifier_title":"","date_qualifier_id":null,"artist_display":"Winslow Homer (American, 1836\u20131910)","place_of_origin":"Prouts Neck","description":"

Long inspired by the sea, Winslow Homer spent time in 1881 in a fishing community in Tynemouth, England. The experience fundamentally changed his life and work. His paintings thereafter focused almost exclusively on humankind\u2019s age-old contest with nature. In The Herring Net<\/em>, executed in Prouts Neck, Maine, Homer depicted the heroic efforts of fishermen at their daily work. In a small dory, one figure hauls in glistening herring, while the other, possibly a boy, unloads the catch. Laboring far from the schooners on the horizon, the pair strives to steady the precarious boat as it rides the incoming swells.<\/p>\n","short_description":"One of the most influential American painters of the 19th century, Winslow Homer is known for his dynamic depictions of both upper-class leisure pursuits and nature's power and beauty. The paintings he created after 1882 focus almost exclusively on humankind\u2019s contest with nature. Here, Homer depicted the heroic efforts of fishermen hauling in an abundant catch of herring while steadying their boat amid turbulent swells.","dimensions":"76.5 \u00d7 122.9 cm (30 1\/8 \u00d7 48 3\/8 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":122,"height":76,"diameter":null,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Oil on canvas","inscriptions":"Signed recto, bottom-right, on water, in red paint: \"Homer 85\".","credit_line":"Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"\u201cFine Arts: The Autumn Academy,\u201d Nation<\/em> 41 (Dec. 17, 1885): 516\u201317.\n\nW.A. Coffin, \u201cA Painter of the Sea,\u201d Century Magazine<\/em> (Sept. 1899).\n\nR. Hitchcock, The Art of the World: The World\u2019s Columbian Exposition<\/em> (D. Appleton and Company, 1895) Section 4, 143 (ill.).\n\nJ.W. Young, \u201cThe Art of Winslow Homer,\u201d Fine Arts Journal<\/em> 19 (Feb. 1908): 47.\n\n\u201cAnnual Carnegie Exhibit,\u201d American Art News<\/em> 6 (May 9, 1908): 4, as Banks Fisherman<\/em>.\n\nCarnegie Institute, Catalogue of the Twelfth Annual Exhibition at the Carnegie Institute<\/em>, exh. cat., (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, 1908), n.p., cat. 151, as Banks Fisherman<\/em>.\n\nWilliam Howe Downes, The Life and Works of Winslow Homer<\/em> (Houghton, Mifflin Company, 1911), 134, 137, 231, 258 (ill.).\n\nA. Hoeber, \u201cWinslow Homer: A Painter of the Sea,\u201d World\u2019s Work<\/em> (Feb. 1911).\n\nA.E. Gallatin, \u201cWinslow Homer Memorial Exhibition,\u201d Art and Progress<\/em> (Apr. 1911).\n\nKeyon Cox, Winslow Homer<\/em> (New York, Privately printed by Frederic Fairchild Sherman, 1914), 34, 51 (ill.).\n\n\u201cKnoedler Firm Buys 21 Winslow Homers,\u201d New York Herald<\/em> (Nov. 15, 1915).\n\nNathaniel Pousette\u2013Dart, comp. Winslow Homer (Frederick A. Stokes, 1923), ill. \n\nM. B. W., \u201cSummer Loan Exhibitions,\u201d Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> 17 (Sept. 19, 1923): 56, 58 (ill.).\n\nRobert B. Harshe, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection<\/em> (Art Institute of Chicago, 1925), 163, cat. 2186, as Herring Net<\/em>, https:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/gri.ark:\/13960\/s2hxd115k60<\/a>.\n\nForbes Watson, \u201cIn the Galleries,\u201d Arts<\/em> 16 (May 1930), 630\u201334 (ill.).\n\nCreative Art<\/em> 6 (June 1930), supplement, 141 (ill.).\n\nC. Borrows, \u201cLetter From New York,\u201d Apollo<\/em> 12 (July 1930): 46 (ill.).\n\nMuseum of Modern Art, Winslow Homer, Albert P. Ryder, Thomas Eakins<\/em>, exh. cat. (Museum of Modern Art, 1930), 21, cat. 9 (ill.).\n\nW.H. Downes, \u201cAmerican Painters of the Sea,\u201d American Magazine of Art<\/em> 23 (Nov. 1931): 360\u201374.\n\nG. Dubois, \u201cTwo Exhibitions by Winslow Homer,\u201d Magazine of Art<\/em> (Jan. 1932).\n\nTheodore Bolton, \u201cThe Art of Winslow Homer: An Estimate in 1932,\u201d Fine Arts<\/em> 18 (Feb. 1932): 23\u201328.\n\nArt Digest<\/em> 7 (May 15, 1933): 29 (ill.).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Catalogue of a Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Lent from American Collections<\/em>, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1933), 63, cat. 460, pl. 83 (ill.).\n\nH. Clifford, \u201cWinslow Homer: Oils, Watercolors and Drawings in a Centenary Exhibition Current in Philadelphia,\u201d Art News<\/em> 34 (May 9, 1936): 6 (ill.).\n\nCalvin S. Hathaway, \u201cDrawings by Winslow Homer in The Museum\u2019s Collections,\u201d Chronicle of the Museum of Decorative Arts of the Cooper Hewitt<\/em> 1, no. 2 (Apr. 1936).\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> 32 (Jan. 19, 1938): 5 (ill.).\n\nKate Brewster, \u201cThe Ryerson Gift to The Art Institute of Chicago,\u201d Magazine of Art<\/em> 31 (Feb. 1938): 94\u2013100 (ill.).\n\nArt Quarterly<\/em> 1, no. 2 (Spring 1938): 147 (ill.).\n\nThomas Craven, Treasury of Art Masterpieces from the Renaissance to the Present Day<\/em> (Simon and Schuster, 1939), 463, no. 112.\n\nDonald Jenks, Paintings on Parade, A Pictorial Handbook of World\u2019s Masterpieces<\/em> (Hale, Cushman Flint, 1939).\n\nArt Digest<\/em> 13 (Mar. 15, 1939): 26 (ill.)\n\nForbes Watson, Winslow Homer<\/em> (Crown Publishers, 1942), (ill.).\n\nJ. Walker and J. Magill, Great American Painting from Smibert to Bellows, 1729\u20131924<\/em> (Oxford University Press, 1943), 61 (ill.).\n\nLloyd Goodrich, Winslow Homer<\/em> (Whitney Museum of American Art; The MacMillan Company, 1944), cat. 28.\n\nLloyd Goodrich, \u201cThe Young Winslow Homer,\u201d Magazine of Art<\/em> (Feb. 1944).\n\nNational Geographic Magazine<\/em> (Feb. 1951): 211 (ill.).\n\nLloyd Goodrich, Winslow Homer<\/em> (New York, Braziller, 1959).\n\nJean Gould, Winslow Homer: A Portrait<\/em> (Dodd, Mead, 1962).\n\nAlbert Ten Eyck Gardner, Winslow Homer, American Artists: His World and His Work<\/em> (New York, Clarkson N. Potter, 1961), 188 (ill.).\n\nH. Ingalls, \u201cElements in the Development of Winslow Homer,\u201d Art Journal<\/em> 24 (Fall 1964): 18\u201322.\n\nPhilip C. Beam, Winslow Homer at Prout\u2019s Neck<\/em> (Little, Brown and Company, 1967), 67 (ill.).\n\nThomas S. Buechner and Axel von Saldern, Triumph of Realism: An Exhibition of European and American Realist Paintings, 1850\u20131910<\/em>, exh. cat. (Brooklyn: Brooklyn Museum, 1967).\n\nJohn Wilmerding, A History of Marine Painting<\/em> (Salem, MA: Peabody Essex Museum, 1968).\n\nBarbara Novak, American Painting of the Nineteenth Century: Realism, Idealism and the American Experience<\/em> (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1969).\n\nJohn Shapely, ed., The Index of Twentieth Century Artists<\/em>, 4 (New York, College Art Association ) vol. 1, 1934; reprint ed., (New York, Arno Press, 1970), 24\u201337, 56\u201360.\n\nVincent Price, \"The Vincent Price Treasury of American Art,\" Country Beautiful<\/em> (1972): 139 (ill.).\n\nJohn Wilmerding, Winslow Homer<\/em> (Westport, CT: Praeger, 1972), 147 (ill.).\n\nDavid A. Hanks, \u201cAmerican Paintings at The Art Institute,\u201d Antiques<\/em> 104 (Nov. 1973): 873\u2013905 (ill.).\n\nC. Montgomery, \u201cThe Fish as a Symbol,\u201d Studio International<\/em> 187 (May 1974): 200\u201326 (ill.).\n\nLois Fink and Joshua Taylor, The Academic Tradition in American Art, National Collection of Fine Arts<\/em> (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1975).\n\nM. Brown, American Art to 1900<\/em> (Abrams, 1977).\n\nMilo Naeve, \u201cThe Edwardian Era and Patrons of American Art at The Art Institute of Chicago: The Birth of a Tradition,\u201d America\u2019s International Exposition of Fine Arts and Antiques<\/em> (Lakeside Group, 1988), 23, fig. 4.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Master Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> (Little, Brown, and Company, 1988), 89 (ill.).\n\nPaul Raymond Provost, \u201cWinslow Homer\u2019s The Fog Warning: The Fisherman as Heroic Character,\u201d American Journal<\/em> 22, no. 1 (Kennedy Galleries, 1990): 21\u201327, fig. 2 (ill.).\n\nCarolyn Kinder Carr, et al., Revisiting the White City: American Art at the 1893 World's Fair<\/em> (Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 1993), 262 (ill.).\n\nJudith A. Barter, et al., American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago: From Colonial Times to World War I<\/em> (Art Institute of Chicago, 1998).\n \nThomas Andrew Denenberg, et al., Wyeth Vertigo<\/em> (VT: Shelburne Museum, 2013).\n\nWilliam R. Cross, Homer at the Beach: A Marine Painter's Journey, 1869\u20131880<\/em>, exh. cat. (Gloucester, MA: Cape Ann Museum, 2019), 11, 158, 160, fig. 64 (ill.).","exhibition_history":"New York, National Academy of Design, Autumn Exhibition<\/em>, Nov. 23\u2013Dec. 19, 1885, no. 395.\n\nChicago, World's Columbian Exposition<\/em>, May 1\u2013Oct. 31, 1893.\n\nPittsburgh, PA, Carnegie Institute, 1908, as Banks Fishermen<\/em>.\n\nNew York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Winslow Homer<\/em>, Feb. 6\u2013Mar. 19, 1911, no. 6, as Banks Fishermen<\/em>.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Paintings from the Collection of R. F. Angell, Mr. and Mrs. William T. Cresmer, Mr. and Mrs. Max Epstein, Martin A. Ryerson<\/em><\/a>, June 1\u2013Oct. 1, 1923.\n\nNew York, Museum of Modern Art, Homer, Ryder, and Eakins<\/em>, May 6\u2013June 4, 1930, cat.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress<\/em><\/a>, June 1\u2013Nov. 1, 1933, cat.\n\nNew York, Knoedler Galleries, To Honor Henry McBride, An Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Water Colours<\/em>, Nov. 29\u2013Dec. 17, 1949, no. 1, as Banks Fishermen<\/em> or The Herring Net<\/em>.\n\nMilwaukee, Marquette University, Festival of the American Arts<\/em>, Apr. 22\u2013May 3, 1956, no. 38.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Two Centuries of American Art, 1750-1950<\/em><\/a>, Oct. 1, 1959\u2013Jan. 10, 1960, no cat. [downloadable checklist available].\n\nNY, Brooklyn Museum, The Triumph of Realism<\/em>, Oct. 3\u2013Nov. 19, 1967, cat.; Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Dec. 11, 1967\u2013Jan. 4, 1968; San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Feb. 17\u2013Mar. 31, 1968.\n\nWashington, DC, National Gallery of Art, Winslow Homer<\/em>, Oct. 15, 1995\u2013Jan. 28, 1996, cat.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Feb. 21\u2013May 26, 1996; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, June 17\u2013Sept. 22, 1996.","provenance_text":"Charles W. Gould, New York, by 1908 to 1915; M. Knoedler and Company, New York, 1915; sold to Martin A. Ryerson (1856\u20131932), Chicago, 1915; by descent to his wife Carrie Hutchinson Ryerson (1859\u20131937), Chicago, 1932 [Last Will and Testament of Martin A. Ryerson, Died August 11, 1932<\/em>, copy in Institutional Archives, Art Institute of Chicago]; bequeathed to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1937.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":21,"fiscal_year":null,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":true,"has_educational_resources":true,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":25.6524,"color":{"h":44,"l":50,"s":14,"percentage":0.35541476102642866,"population":1555},"latitude":41.878698745628,"longitude":-87.6221321347447,"latlon":"41.878698745628,-87.622132134745","is_on_view":true,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":"Gallery 161","gallery_id":2147477236,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Arts of the Americas","department_id":"PC-3","artist_id":34988,"artist_title":"Winslow Homer","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[34988],"artist_titles":["Winslow Homer"],"category_ids":["PC-145","PC-831","PC-3"],"category_titles":["Winslow Homer: The Color of Light","Essentials","Arts of the Americas"],"term_titles":["painting","oil paint (paint)","Impressionism","people","oil painting","Realism","organic material","american arts","work","weather\/seasons","food","water","men","fishing","boats","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs","painting (image making)","animals","landscapes","Modernism","portraits"],"style_id":"TM-7543","style_title":"Impressionism","alt_style_ids":["TM-7548","TM-5981"],"style_ids":["TM-7543","TM-7548","TM-5981"],"style_titles":["Impressionism","Realism","Modernism"],"classification_id":"TM-9","classification_title":"painting","alt_classification_ids":["TM-2191"],"classification_ids":["TM-9","TM-2191"],"classification_titles":["painting","american arts"],"subject_id":"TM-8810","alt_subject_ids":["TM-10093","TM-10095","TM-8673","TM-8681","TM-10121","TM-12106","TM-8737","TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176","TM-12218","TM-8657","TM-8658"],"subject_ids":["TM-8810","TM-10093","TM-10095","TM-8673","TM-8681","TM-10121","TM-12106","TM-8737","TM-12169","TM-11299","TM-12176","TM-12218","TM-8657","TM-8658"],"subject_titles":["people","work","weather\/seasons","food","water","men","fishing","boats","Century of Progress","world's fairs","Chicago World's Fairs","animals","landscapes","portraits"],"material_id":"TM-2451","alt_material_ids":["TM-2601"],"material_ids":["TM-2451","TM-2601"],"material_titles":["oil paint (paint)","organic material"],"technique_id":"TM-4273","alt_technique_ids":["TM-3891"],"technique_ids":["TM-4273","TM-3891"],"technique_titles":["oil painting","painting (image making)"],"theme_titles":["Essentials"],"image_id":"5dca7347-c6dc-24dd-d073-d705b9cdc575","alt_image_ids":[],"document_ids":["f85bee6b-d18b-5577-a9e6-f429421b4654","3861dbe0-e54b-7fdc-225c-3f192a7b3947","07a1f837-9df3-6675-9992-248fbbb6a485","5ab1851e-0140-5b2f-40d1-4fbbf86090d2"],"sound_ids":["3861dbe0-e54b-7fdc-225c-3f192a7b3947","07a1f837-9df3-6675-9992-248fbbb6a485"],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":["f85bee6b-d18b-5577-a9e6-f429421b4654","5ab1851e-0140-5b2f-40d1-4fbbf86090d2"],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"The Herring Net","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1937.1039"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["The Herring Net"],"weight":44276,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-08-05T16:33:53-05:00","updated_at":"2026-08-27T15:11:36-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-01T18:58:23-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.15"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}