A Huntsman and Dogs

A Huntsman and Dogs is an 1891 painting by American artist, Winslow Homer. It is another example of how he focused on the relationship between man and nature, where he would outline the positives and negatives of this partnership.

Within this particular piece we find a huntsman who is entirely at ease with the natural environment around him. The artist uses similar tones on his clothing as well as the landscape that surrounds him in order to communicate this close bond. He carries a deer over his shoulder whilst his dogs look on with enthusiasm. He carries a gun over his opposing shoulder and for this painting he poses by leaning on a tree stump. The artist then incorporates rolling hills in the background, with a darkened sky above. One can imagine the huntsman going off on a relatively cool day in order to catch his food for the day, before returning home to enjoy his prize. Homer uses tones of mustard, green and brown within this outdoor setting and the artist is believed to have been a keen sportsman himself and so was naturally drawn to this type of content. The setting for this piece is believed to have been Adirondack region, a spot in New York state in which the artist visited several times for rural holidays.

There is a quiet, isolated atmosphere within this painting as no-one else is included within the composition. Even the huntsman himself has only his animals to keep him company. The region is known for its mountains, which perhaps encourages this feeling of isolation but the lack of other figures within the scene helps to artist to create a particularly intimate atmosphere in which the bond between man and animal is stressed. At this time in western society, landscapes were starting to become impacted by man to a much larger degree than had been seen before and many artists became concerned about this. Industrialisation went against the principles of most artists, where creativity is replaced by efficiency and modular outputs, and those who focused on landscapes within their art were particularly unhappy about these new developments within the 19th century.

This painting can be found in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art where it serves as an excellent reminder of the importance of Winslow Homer's career. A Huntsman and Dogs from 1891 is believed to have entered the collection of this impressive museum via the William L. Elkins Collection in around 1924. It is listed as being 71cm tall, by 145cm wide, approximately. This is there a fairly large artwork by the standards of this artist, though he tended to work in larger sizes for his work in oils as compared to his watercolours. Homer made use of his holidays as a means to expand the variety of his work, and would eventually start to travel abroad too, which brought new environments and cultures into his work, though he always remained a proud American whose favourite content would be from locations in his home nation. The Philadelphia Museum of Art host a number of other artworks from his career.