Winslow Homer
The Cotton Pickers1876

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Oil painting of two young Black women carrying baskets and sacks of cotton through a wide field under a pale overcast sky

Artist or Maker: Winslow Homer
United States, Massachusetts, Boston, 1836-1910
Title: The Cotton Pickers
Place Made: United States
Date Made: 1876
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Canvas: 24 1/16 × 38 1/8 in. (61.12 × 96.84 cm) Frame: 35 1/4 × 49 1/2 × 4 in. (89.54 × 125.73 × 10.16 cm)
Credit Line: Acquisition made possible through Museum Trustees: Robert O. Anderson, R. Stanton Avery, B. Gerald Cantor, Edward W. Carter, Justin Dart, Charles E. Ducommun, Camilla Chandler Frost, Julian Ganz, Jr., Dr. Armand Hammer, Harry Lenart, Dr. Franklin D. Murphy, Mrs. Joan Palevsky, Richard E. Sherwood, Maynard J. Toll, and Hal B. Wallis
Accession Number: M.77.68
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: American Art
Curatorial Notes: Based on Winslow Homer’s travels to Reconstruction-era Virginia, The Cotton Pickers is a poignant depiction of life for newly emancipated Black Americans in the South. While one woman reaches down to pick a boll of cotton, the other gazes into the distance, poised on the brink of an uncertain future. Her apron snags on a branch below, physically connecting her to the crop that enriched white fortunes and fueled the translatlantic slave trade.
Provenance: The artist, 1876-77 § Private collection, England, 1877-1911 § Dr. Charles B. Guinn, Carthage, Mo., 1911-44 § With Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1944-47 § James Cox Bandy II, New York, c. 1947-71 § Mrs. James Cox Bandy II (by descent), New Jersey, 1971-77.
The artist, sold in 1877 to; Private collection, England, through 1911. Dr. Charles B. Guinn (1864–1955), Carthage, Missouri, from 1911 through 1944. [Wildenstein & Co., New York, sold 1947 to]; James Cox Brady, Jr. (1907–1971), New York, by inheritance to his widow; Mrs. Eliot Brady, (née Chase, 1906–1977), New Jersey, sold through; [Newhouse Galleries, New York, in 1977 to]; LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Paton, Priscilla. Abandoned New England: Landscape in the Works of Homer, Frost, Hopper, Wyeth, and Bishop. Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 2003.
Groseclose, Barbara. Nineteenth-Century American Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Wilmeriding, John. American Views; Essays on American Art. Princeton University Press, 1991.
McKissack, Patricia C. A Picture of Freedom : The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1997.
Little, Carl. Winslow Homer: His Art, His Light, His Landscapes. 1997.
Winslow Homer, 1836-1910: Eastman Johnson, 1824-1906. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum, 1949.
Conrads, Margaret C. Winslow Homer And The Critics: Forging a National Art in the 1870s. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Vlach, John Michael. The Planter's Prospect: Privilege and Slavery in Plantation Paintings. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Members' Calendar 1993, vol. 31, no. 1-11 (January-November, 1993).
Gardner, Albert TenEyck. Winslow Homer, American Artist: His World and His Work. New York: Bramhall House, 1961.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2003.
Johns, Elizabeth. Winslow Homer: The Nature of Observation. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2002.
Fort, Ilene Susan and Michael Quick. American Art: a Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Looking Guide: Winslow Homer and the Critics. Kansas City: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2001.
Price, Lorna. Masterpieces from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1988.
Matsumoto, Fumihisa. Chapters in American Art, "Daybreak -- Time to Rest: Jacob Lawrence's Struggle". Akashi Shoten Company, Ltd., 2001.
Lears, T.J. Jackson, ed. American Victorians and Virgin Nature: Fenway Court, Vol. 29. Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2002.
LACMA: Obras Maestras 1750-1950: Pintura Estadounidense Del Museo De Arte Del Condado De Los Angeles. Mexico, D.F.: Museo Nacional de Arte, 2006.
American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765-1915. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Gallery. New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, in association with Yale University Press, 2008.
Goldin, Marco and H. Barbara Weinberg. 2008. Pittura Americana del XIX secolo: atti del convegno. Treviso: Linea d'ombra Libri.
Harvey, Eleanor Jones. The Civil War and American Art. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian American Art Museum; New Haven, Connecticut: In association with Yale University Press, 2012.
Severens, Martha R. More than a Likeness: the Enduring Art of Mary Whyte. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2013.
Goodrich, Lloyd. Record of Works by Winslow Homer. Vol. 2, 1867 through 1876. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2005.
Gifts on the Occasion of LACMA's 50th Anniversary. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2015.
Griffin, Randall C. Winslow Homer: an American Vision. London: Phaidon, 2017.
Athens, Elizabeth, and Brandon Ruud. Coming Away: Winslow Homer & England. Worcester, Mass.: Worcester Art Museum, 2017.
Wierich, Jochen. Picturing Mississippi, 1817-2017: Land of Plenty, Pain, and Promise. Jackson: Mississippi Museum of Art, 2017.
Winslow Homer Centenary Exhibition, December 15, 1936 to January 15, 1937. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1936.
Kusserow, Karl, and Alan C. Braddock. Nature's Nation: American Art and Environment. Princeton: Princeton University Art Museum, 2018.
Kelly, Simon and Maite van Dijk, eds. Millet and Modern Art: From Van Gogh to Dalí. Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum; St. Louis: Saint Louis Art Museum, 2019.
Herdrich, Stephanie L. and Sylvia Yount. Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022.
Arabindan-Kesson, Anna. Black Bodies, White Gold: Art, Cotton, and Commerce in the Atlantic World. Durham: Duke University Press, 2021.
Stebbins, Jr., Theodore E., Carol Troyen, and Trevor J. Fairbrother. A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting, 1760-1910. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1983.

Related Unframed

Winslow Homer
The Cotton Pickers1876

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Artist or Maker: Winslow Homer
United States, Massachusetts, Boston, 1836-1910
Title: The Cotton Pickers
Place Made: United States
Date Made: 1876
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Canvas: 24 1/16 × 38 1/8 in. (61.12 × 96.84 cm) Frame: 35 1/4 × 49 1/2 × 4 in. (89.54 × 125.73 × 10.16 cm)
Credit Line: Acquisition made possible through Museum Trustees: Robert O. Anderson, R. Stanton Avery, B. Gerald Cantor, Edward W. Carter, Justin Dart, Charles E. Ducommun, Camilla Chandler Frost, Julian Ganz, Jr., Dr. Armand Hammer, Harry Lenart, Dr. Franklin D. Murphy, Mrs. Joan Palevsky, Richard E. Sherwood, Maynard J. Toll, and Hal B. Wallis
Accession Number: M.77.68
Classification: Paintings
Collecting Area: American Art
Curatorial Notes: Based on Winslow Homer’s travels to Reconstruction-era Virginia, The Cotton Pickers is a poignant depiction of life for newly emancipated Black Americans in the South. While one woman reaches down to pick a boll of cotton, the other gazes into the distance, poised on the brink of an uncertain future. Her apron snags on a branch below, physically connecting her to the crop that enriched white fortunes and fueled the translatlantic slave trade.
Provenance: The artist, 1876-77 § Private collection, England, 1877-1911 § Dr. Charles B. Guinn, Carthage, Mo., 1911-44 § With Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1944-47 § James Cox Bandy II, New York, c. 1947-71 § Mrs. James Cox Bandy II (by descent), New Jersey, 1971-77.
The artist, sold in 1877 to; Private collection, England, through 1911. Dr. Charles B. Guinn (1864–1955), Carthage, Missouri, from 1911 through 1944. [Wildenstein & Co., New York, sold 1947 to]; James Cox Brady, Jr. (1907–1971), New York, by inheritance to his widow; Mrs. Eliot Brady, (née Chase, 1906–1977), New Jersey, sold through; [Newhouse Galleries, New York, in 1977 to]; LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Paton, Priscilla. Abandoned New England: Landscape in the Works of Homer, Frost, Hopper, Wyeth, and Bishop. Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 2003.
Groseclose, Barbara. Nineteenth-Century American Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Wilmeriding, John. American Views; Essays on American Art. Princeton University Press, 1991.
McKissack, Patricia C. A Picture of Freedom : The Diary of Clotee, a Slave Girl. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1997.
Little, Carl. Winslow Homer: His Art, His Light, His Landscapes. 1997.
Winslow Homer, 1836-1910: Eastman Johnson, 1824-1906. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum, 1949.
Conrads, Margaret C. Winslow Homer And The Critics: Forging a National Art in the 1870s. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2001.
Vlach, John Michael. The Planter's Prospect: Privilege and Slavery in Plantation Paintings. Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art Members' Calendar 1993, vol. 31, no. 1-11 (January-November, 1993).
Gardner, Albert TenEyck. Winslow Homer, American Artist: His World and His Work. New York: Bramhall House, 1961.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. New York: Thames and Hudson, 2003.
Johns, Elizabeth. Winslow Homer: The Nature of Observation. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2002.
Fort, Ilene Susan and Michael Quick. American Art: a Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Looking Guide: Winslow Homer and the Critics. Kansas City: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2001.
Price, Lorna. Masterpieces from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1988.
Matsumoto, Fumihisa. Chapters in American Art, "Daybreak -- Time to Rest: Jacob Lawrence's Struggle". Akashi Shoten Company, Ltd., 2001.
Lears, T.J. Jackson, ed. American Victorians and Virgin Nature: Fenway Court, Vol. 29. Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2002.
LACMA: Obras Maestras 1750-1950: Pintura Estadounidense Del Museo De Arte Del Condado De Los Angeles. Mexico, D.F.: Museo Nacional de Arte, 2006.
American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765-1915. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Gallery. New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, in association with Yale University Press, 2008.
Goldin, Marco and H. Barbara Weinberg. 2008. Pittura Americana del XIX secolo: atti del convegno. Treviso: Linea d'ombra Libri.
Harvey, Eleanor Jones. The Civil War and American Art. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian American Art Museum; New Haven, Connecticut: In association with Yale University Press, 2012.
Severens, Martha R. More than a Likeness: the Enduring Art of Mary Whyte. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2013.
Goodrich, Lloyd. Record of Works by Winslow Homer. Vol. 2, 1867 through 1876. New York: Spanierman Gallery, 2005.
Gifts on the Occasion of LACMA's 50th Anniversary. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2015.
Griffin, Randall C. Winslow Homer: an American Vision. London: Phaidon, 2017.
Athens, Elizabeth, and Brandon Ruud. Coming Away: Winslow Homer & England. Worcester, Mass.: Worcester Art Museum, 2017.
Wierich, Jochen. Picturing Mississippi, 1817-2017: Land of Plenty, Pain, and Promise. Jackson: Mississippi Museum of Art, 2017.
Winslow Homer Centenary Exhibition, December 15, 1936 to January 15, 1937. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1936.
Kusserow, Karl, and Alan C. Braddock. Nature's Nation: American Art and Environment. Princeton: Princeton University Art Museum, 2018.
Kelly, Simon and Maite van Dijk, eds. Millet and Modern Art: From Van Gogh to Dalí. Amsterdam: Van Gogh Museum; St. Louis: Saint Louis Art Museum, 2019.
Herdrich, Stephanie L. and Sylvia Yount. Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022.
Arabindan-Kesson, Anna. Black Bodies, White Gold: Art, Cotton, and Commerce in the Atlantic World. Durham: Duke University Press, 2021.
Stebbins, Jr., Theodore E., Carol Troyen, and Trevor J. Fairbrother. A New World: Masterpieces of American Painting, 1760-1910. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1983.

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