Winslow Homer Chronology
1836
Winslow Homer is born on February 24 in Boston.
1842
The Homer family moves to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1854
Homer becomes an apprentice at the lithography shop of John H. Bufford in Boston.
1857
Twenty-one-year-old Homer finishes his apprenticeship and seeks work as a freelance illustrator, eventually becoming a regular contributor to the magazine Harper’s Weekly in New York. Begins developing the engraving style?clean, with sharp contrasts of light and dark?he will use to great effect throughout his career.
1859
Moves to New York City.
1861-1864
During the Civil War, makes several trips to the Virginia front, capturing scenes of battle and daily camp life for Harper’s.
1863
Completes Sharpshooter, an important early work and his first professional oil painting (in the collection of the Portland Museum of Art).
1865
Elected to the National Academy of Design, New York.
1866
Sails to Paris in December, where he spends a year studying and painting.
1870
Makes his first trip to the Adirondacks, where he will return 19 times and produce numerous paintings, drawings, watercolors, and wood engravings.
1873
Begins working seriously in watercolor (a medium that will become extremely important to him).
1875
Visits Prouts Neck, Maine (where his newlywed brother is honeymooning) for the first time.
1881-1882
Spends almost two years in the fishing village of Cullercoats, England, where he concentrates on painting large-scale scenes of the sea, its fishermen, and their families.
1883
Homer’s father and brother purchase almost all of Prouts Neck. Homer settles there, where he will remain until his death in 1910, continuing to work in both oils and watercolor.
1884
Work is completed on Homer’s Prouts Neck studio, renovated by architect John Calvin Stevens.
1885
Homer travels with family and paints in the Bahamas, Cuba, Florida, and New York.
1893
Exhibits at the Portland Society of Art (later to become the Portland Museum of Art) for the first time, showing his oil painting Signal of Distress. Visits Quebec for the first time and exhibits at the Chicago World’s Fair.
1894
Weatherbeaten painted (view of rocky coast line at Prouts Neck now in the collection of the Portland Museum of Art).
1908
Writes to his sister-in-law from Prouts Neck, “All is lovely outside my house and inside of my house and myself.”
1910
Homer dies in his studio at Prouts Neck, with both his brothers present.
1966
The Studio is designated a National Historic Landmark.
1977
Charles Shipman Payson gives his collection of 17 Winslow Homer paintings to the Portland Museum of Art.
1991
The Homer Graphics Collection, containing nearly 400 examples of Homer’s work as an illustrator, is given to the Museum by Peggy and Harold Osher.
1992
Sharpshooter, Homer’s first major oil painting, is given to the Portland Museum of Art by Barbro and Bernard Osher.
2002
The Homer Gallery opens as part of the Portland Museum of Art’s restored L.D.M. Sweat Memorial Galleries.
2004
Acquisition of The Winslow Homer Studio by the Portland Museum of Art
Museum Information
The Portland Museum of Art is located at Seven Congress Square in downtown Portland. The Museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday. Memorial Day through Columbus Day, the Museum is open on Mondays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Museum admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students with I.D., $4 for youth ages 6 to 17, and children under 6 are free. The Museum is free on Friday evenings from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Museum Cafe and Store. For more information, call (207) 775-6148. Web site www.portlandmuseum.org.