The Boat Builders (painting)

Painting by Winslow Homer

The Boat Builders

Artist| Winslow Homer
Year| 1873 (1873)
Medium| Oil on panel
Dimensions| 15 cm × 26 cm (6 in × 10¼ in)
Location| Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, United States
Owner| Indianapolis Museum of Art

The Boat Builders is an oil painting on panel executed in 1873 by American landscape painter Winslow Homer. It is held in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.

## Description

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The Boat Builders depicts two young boys sitting on a rocky shoreline working on building toy boats. They both wear wide-brimmed hats, which shield their faces from the viewer. A blue sky in the background resides over the ocean, where a number of boats pass by the shore.[1] The painting is on a mahogany panel and is signed on the lower left: "HOMER/1873"; by 1969 the date was no longer visible on the painting.[2]

## Context

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In 1873 Homer spent his summer in Gloucester, Massachusetts, which is where he painted The Boat Builders, as well as other works in his series of drawings and paintings about shipbuilding. The connection of the boys' toy boats and the sailing ship was sought to intertwine the imagination of the boys with the real-life experience of fishermen. It is believed that the boys' hobby suggests their future role in the ship, sea and fishing industries.[1]

## Ownership and exhibition history

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In the October 11, 1873, issue of Harper's Weekly the painting was reproduced as an engraving.

The painting was acquired by the IMA with funds from the Martha Delzell Memorial Fund. The Boat Builders is currently on location at the IMA's Paine Turn of the Century American Art Gallery.[1]

## Notes

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1. ^ a b c "The Boat Builders". Collections. Indianapolis Museum of Art. 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2010.
2. ^ Indianapolis Museum of Art, 25.

## Bibliography

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* Indianapolis Museum of Art Bulletin. 5 (1969): 25. Indianapolis Museum of Art.

## Further reading

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* Cikovsky Jr., Nicolai and Franklin Kelly. Winslow Homer, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-300-06555-8
* Day, Holliday T. Indianapolis Museum of Art Collections Handbook, Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1988. ISBN 0-936260-20-3
* Gerdts, Abigail Booth and Lloyd Goodrich. Winslow Homer in Monochrome, New York: Knoedler & Company, 1986.
* Goodrich, Lloyd. Winslow Homer, New York: New York Graphic Society, 1974. ISBN 978-0-8212-0527-3
* Griffin, Randall C. Winslow Homer: An American Vision, London: Phaidon Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-7148-3992-9

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Winslow Homer

Paintings|

* The Brierwood Pipe (1864)
* The Bright Side (1865)
* The Veteran in a New Field (1865)
* In Front of Yorktown (c. 1863–1866)
* Prisoners from the Front (1866)
* Snap the Whip (1872)
* Grace Hoops (1872)
* A Basket of Clams (1873)
* The Boat Builders (1873)
* Breezing Up (1873–1876)
* The Cotton Pickers (1876)
* A Visit from the Old Mistress (1876)
* Dressing for the Carnival (1877)
* Children Under a Palm (1885)
* The Fog Warning (1885)
* Lost on the Grand Banks (1885)
* Eight Bells (1886)
* The Fox Hunt (1893)
* Moonlight, Wood Island Light (1894)
* Cannon Rock (1895)
* Northeaster (1895)
* Maine Coast (1895)
* The Gulf Stream (1899)
* Searchlight on Harbor Entrance, Santiago de Cuba (1901)
* Fishing Boats, Key West (1903)
* Right and Left (1909)

Museums|

* Winslow Homer Studio

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Indianapolis Museum of Art (Newfields)

Significant
artworks at the
Indianapolis
Museum of Art|

| African art|

* Face mask
* Senufo female ancestor figure
* Magbo helmet mask for Oro society
* Palace plaque depicting warrior
* Guardian figure
* Healing of Abiku Children

|

American painting and
sculpture to 1945|

* Afternoon Tea
* Cliff Rock - Appledore
* Dorothy
* Hotel Lobby
* Hurricane
* Jimson Weed
* Morning at Grand Manan
* Preparing for the Matinee
* Red Kimono on the Roof
* Reflections
* Sunlight
* The Boat Builders
* The Flight of Europa
* The Love Song
* The Rainbow
* Tidying Up
* U.S.A.
* Untitled (The Birth)

Asian art|

* Bowl with two violet spots
* Cong-shaped vase
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Contemporary art|

* Acton
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* LOVE painting
* LOVE (sculpture)
* The Quintet of the Silent
* They Waz Nice White Folks While They Lasted (Sez One Gal to Another)
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Decorative arts|

* Angel of the Resurrection
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* High chest of drawers
* Portland Vase
* Side chair

European painting and
sculpture to 1945|

* Aristotle
* Battle Between Carnival and Lent
* Breton Women at a Wall
* Broek in Waterland
* Charing Cross Bridge
* Crucifix
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* Enclosed Field with Peasant
* Entry of Christ into Jerusalem
* Entry of Christ into Jerusalem
* House in Provence
* Landscape near Arles
* Ma Jolie
* Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and St. Mary Magdalene
* Man and Woman
* Peasant with a Wheelbarrow
* Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well
* Roman Capriccio: The Pantheon and Other Monuments
* Saint Luke
* Self-Portrait Rembrandt
* Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar
* Still Life with Profile of Laval
* The Banks of the Oise near Pontoise
* The Boy
* The Channel of Gravelines, Petit Fort Philippe
* The Country Dance
* The Crucifixion Cranach
* The Fifth Plague of Egypt
* The Flageolet Player on the Cliff
* The Flight into Egypt
* The Holy Family with Saint John the Baptist
* The House of the Deaf Woman and the Belfry at Eragny
* The Negress
* The Seamstress
* The Triumphant Entry of Constantine into Rome
* The Two Sisters
* The Valkhof at Nijmegen
* Triptych of the Annunciation
* Vorhor, the Green Wave

Art of the Americas|

* Haida ceremonial dance rattle

Oceanic art|

* Helmet mask (Tatanua)

Prints, drawings,
and photographs|

* Blasting St. Vincent's Rock, Clifton
* Boreas and Oreithyia
* Galinthias Outwits Eileithyia by Announcing the Birth of Heracles
* Mother (Mutter)
* Moulin Rouge: La Goulue
* The Holy Family with the Dragonfly
* Young Woman in Blue

Textile and
fashion arts|

* Moroccan wall hanging
* Chinese Souls #2
* Eli Lilly Family Quilt
* Evening dress
* Woman's apron
* Sumbanese woman's ceremonial skirt

Outdoor
artworks
by location|

| Museum grounds|

* Above and Below
* Five Brushstrokes
* La Hermana del Hombre Bóveda
* Memories of Prague
* Mother and Child
* Numbers 1-0
* Snowplow
* Stumbling Man
* Sutphin Fountain
* Two Figures
* Two Lines Oblique Down, Variation III

|

Oldfields|

* Copy of Diana of Versailles
* Diana with Dog
* Female and Male Herm
* Fountain
* Four Seasons
* Landon-Era Birdbath
* Mother and Child (Gordine)
* Nymph and Fawn
* Sundial, Boy With Spider
* The Three Graces
* Pair of Urns

100 Acres|

* Bench Around the Lake
* Eden II
* Free Basket
* Funky Bones
* Indianapolis Island
* Park of the Laments
* Stratum Pier
* Team Building (Align)

Artworks on loan|

* East Gate/West Gate
* Mega-Gem
* Portrait of History
* Sewall Memorial Torches
* Spaces with Iron

Deaccessioned
artworks|

* Broken Walrus II
* Holistic Image VIII
* Weather Tower

Leadership|

* Maxwell L. Anderson
* Charles L. Venable
* Colette Pierce Burnette

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