To the Rescue
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.An innovative summary of the rescue theme, this work is distinguished by its ambiguous narrative and composition. The painting, with its subdued, almost monochromatic tonal palette and minimal detail, reduces the urgent confrontation between people and nature to the essentials. Homer referred to it as a “sketch" inspired by a wreck he witnessed along a treacherous shoreline of sand dunes not far from his studio in Prouts Neck, Maine. He described it as “having the look of being made at once . . . interesting as a quick sketch from nature." A leading collector of modern American and European art, Duncan Phillips, acquired To the Rescue in 1926. He admired the painting for its "dramatic suggestion," meaning the primacy of aesthetic concerns over a clear storyline.
Artwork Details
- Title: To the Rescue
- Artist: Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine)
- Date: 1886
- Culture: American
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2 cm)
Framed: 33 3/4 x 39 5/8 in. (33 3/4 x 39 5/8 cm) - Credit Line: The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., Acquired 1926 (0922)
- Rights and Reproduction: The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
- Curatorial Department: The American Wing