Hound and Hunter

Hound and Hunter, from 1892, is a charming artwork by American painter, Winslow Homer. It is another fine example of his focus on the relationship between humanity and the natural world.

This painting, to be found at the National Gallery of Art in the US, features a hunter leaning over the edge of his boat whilst grabbing the antlers of a deer which is almost entirely submerged in water. His looks on at his hound who swims across from the side. They are within a small lake, giving an intimate feel to this piece, with several trees lying over the edges of the water. An expanse of foliage then lies further back, with the ripples of the struggle being found in front of us. Scenes of the American outdoors and proven popular within the country right across the 19th century and Homer was important in encouraging local artists to focus on US-based content, rather than being drawn into the trap of following the methods of the European masters. This attitude gained him great popularity with the public, and also ensured that Homer's legacy went far beyond just the aesthetic qualities of his own paintings.

Hound and Hunter is a relatively dark-toned painting, but also popular, having been exhibited over two dozen times since first being unveiled in the late 19th century. There remains a strong interest in the artist's career, and several prominent US galleries own a good proportion of his work - this makes curating exhibitons fairly straight forward to organise and explains perhaps why we see so many exhibitions of his work. Additionally, the artist was prolific and left items behind in a mixture of mediums which enables a display to be a little more interesting once drawings, watercolours and even etchings have been added in. In terms of Hound and Hunter, relatively little is known about this piece as compared to Homer's more famous paintings. We do know, however, that several changes were made to the supports of this piece as they began to struggle over time, though the main artwork has received little work.

The ownership of this piece passed from the artist to a number of prominent New York-based families until eventually being gifted to its present owners in around 1947. Its value today would certainly be in the millions of dollars, with a continued interest in historical American artists for many collectors. Homer's connection to outdoors scenes also brings a charm which seems to avoid the whims of fashion and produce a consistent demand from one generation to the next. American art has acheived a great level of success since the time of Homer, and he helped the nation to come out of the shadows of European artists for the first time and really offer unique art of its own that could even start to send influence in the opposite direction.