Perils of the Sea

Showing fisherwomen braced against a biting wind, Winslow Homer's Perils of the Sea provides a glimpse of the small English fishing colony of Cullercoats, where the artist lived for 20 months beginning in 1881. The etching follows in reverse the subject and composition of a watercolor the artist created during his stay there years earlier. Inspired by the community's resilience against nature's wrath, Homer conveyed his respect for the fisherwomen by rendering their forms as sculptural, almost monumental and integrated tightly with the group behind them. Translating the chromatic effects of watercolor into black-and-white, the artist executed finely hatched and cross-hatched lines to evoke dynamic, extreme weather.