Where Winslow Homer Went to Fish and Paint

When Winslow Homer first arrived in Homosassa, Fla., to fish within the winter of 1904, he wrote to his brother Arthur: “Pleasant local weather right here about as cool as our September — Fishing the perfect in America as far as I can discover.”

The artist would keep to color a few of his most luminous watercolors: of fishing alongside the junglelike banks of the Homosassa River: of black bass leaping from the water; and of the Shell Heap, an historical refuse mound left by early Native Individuals.

Homer labored in watercolor abroad and up North in addition to in lots of elements of Florida and the Bahamas the place he traveled to flee the tough Maine winters. The Florida works had a contemporary, gentle high quality, fairly completely different from the oil work for which the artist remains to be finest identified.

Homer, who died in 1910, made 4 journeys to Florida between 1904 and 1909 and it was there he would paint a few of his final watercolors: typically works the place the dense jungle high quality of the shoreline performed towards the glistening waters.

However the journeys to Homosassa, which sits on the West coast of Florida two hours north of Sarasota and an hour west of Tampa, appeared to have provided not simply the chance to color and to fish, however to socialize with different devoted fishermen who had additionally found the small city. Amongst those that are mentioned to have fished the Homosassa River had been the previous president Grover Cleveland and John Jacob Astor, the financier.

Although the medium of watercolor was not extremely regarded within the early a part of Homer’s life, after 1873 when the American Society of Painters in Water Shade held a world exhibition of works by American and European artists, it helped give the medium visibility.

Homer appears to have developed a selected fondness for watercolors, telling the artist George Sheldon in a letter: “I choose each time an image composed and painted outside. This making research and taking them residence is barely half proper. You get composition, however you lose freshness.”

Sarah Burns, who collaborated with the creator Patricia Junker on the e book “Winslow Homer Artist and Angler” mentioned of Homer’s letter to Sheldon: “That was one of many uncommon events when Homer expressed his view about artwork and fact and actuality.”

As we speak Homosassa remains to be a lure for fishermen who come hoping to catch trout, crimson drum and grouper amongst different kinds of fish. I made the two-and-a-half-hour drive from Sarasota, previous Tampa on lengthy flat highways that appeared surprisingly uncrowded for Florida.

A long time in the past, Homosassa was a mecca for tarpon fly fishing, because the sportswriter Monte Burke identified in “Lords of The Fly,” his e book about that interval. Mr. Burke, who has written on a wide range of sports activities, wrote that a number of the biggest tarpon fishermen congregated there in season, together with Thomas Mellon Evans Jr., son of the well-known financier, who spent nearly each Could chasing the tarpon that migrated north up the shoreline to Homosassa.

In truth, the most important tarpon ever recorded on a fly rod was set in Homosassa by James Holland Jr., then a mere 25 years previous, when he scored a 202 pound 8 ounce monster in 2001, Mr. Burke wrote. As we speak there are nonetheless tarpon fishermen casting for the fish however fewer tarpon go to Homosassa Bay than did traditionally.

The Homosassa river, about 8 miles lengthy, runs west from Homosassa Springs to the Gulf of Mexico and because it strikes inland it adjustments from salt water to contemporary. The central lifetime of the tiny city nonetheless facilities on informal, laid-back hubs alongside the river, the place a wealth of fishing boats pull in. One standard spot is MacRae’s, which features a motel, restaurant, store and busy boat dock the place one is more likely to see manatees taking part in within the water or a fisherman returning with a day’s catch of grouper. Captain Erica Toney, who runs Manatee Excursions and Extra, says she often takes guests on a pontoon boat for manatee excursions on the river or to snorkel for scallops within the gulf in season.

Pelicans are usually not shy about strolling alongside the docks the place veteran fishermen know slide a bit of fish down one of many birds’ lengthy beaks with out getting their palms minimize off. Herons strut comfortably alongside, sliding into the water if a customer will get too shut.

Simply adjoining to the marina is a sprawling white two-story home that after accommodated 14 visitor rooms and was often known as the Homosassa Inn; it’s now the non-public residence of the MacRae household, homeowners of the motel and marina.

Whereas it’s clearly seen from the parking zone on the dock, it isn’t open to vacationers. Nonetheless, Kathy Macrae is the guardian of the place and she or he invited me in and confirmed me a visitor e book the place Winslow Homer was signed in for per week’s keep at $18 by Helen Willard, then the proprietor of the inn. Throughout one go to, Homer employed a buggy and cart to get his baggage from the railroad station. He additionally employed a ship and information to paddle as he drew and fished alongside the river the place the water was notably clear. Mrs. MacRae, who’s in her 60s, defined that her grandparents purchased the constructing from Mrs. Willard in 1915.

The immensity of the fish Homer sought made an impression on the nice artist. In a single letter to his supplier, M. Knoedler, he defined that in his watercolor of a bass leaping he had added a bottle within the water to assist present the scale of the fish. As we speak on a ship trip alongside the Homosassa from Macrae’s to the Gulf, one feels the identical charisma trying on the deep-hued bushes and brush that line the river banks. To get a very good sense of the river, you may rent a pontoon boat from Ms. Toney or at a number of locations alongside the Homosassa together with Island Lady Cruises. (Ms. Toney can take six passengers and costs $40 for 2 hours. Island Lady can take 19 passengers and costs $25 for 2 hours.)

Tiny Homosassa has no authentic Homers, however the native library does have a everlasting exhibit of prints of a few of his work. (The Metropolitan Museum of Artwork in New York at the moment has an exhibition of near 90 of his oils and watercolors referred to as “Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents” on show that the critic Roberta Smith referred to as “revelatory.”)

At the least 4 Florida museums personal watercolors by Homer. The Sam and Roberta Vickers household just lately gave a serious assortment of Florida artwork works, together with Homer’s “Foul Hooked Black Bass” to the Harn Museum of Artwork on the campus of the College of Florida in Gainesville. The Norton Museum in Palm Seashore in addition to the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum in Daytona Seashore and the Cummer Museum of Artwork and Gardens in Jacksonville, all have a Homer work.

Homosassa is probably not a very well-known vacationer vacation spot, however it has produced its justifiable share of historical past past Homer’s fondness for the city. For one factor, it was in Homosassa, that David Levy Yulee, the primary Jewish member of the U.S. Senate, created a 5,100 acre sugar cane plantation labored by enslaved Africans.

Mr. Yulee was born in Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas, which later turned a part of the U.S. Virgin Islands. There wasa small Jewish inhabitants there and his father was a Moroccan Jewish businessman who made his cash in lumber. Within the 1820s, the household emigrated to Florida the place Mr. Yulee studied legislation in St. Augustine and have become deeply concerned within the railroad enterprise. He segued into politics and in 1845 was elected as a Democrat to the Senate.

An aggressive supporter of the Confederacy, Mr. Yulee, who took on his father’s identify after he was elected, misplaced his plantation through the Civil Conflict. He was briefly imprisoned after the warfare at Fort Pulaski in line with the Jewish Digital Library.

In a brief drive from the waterfront, one can go to the remnants of the sugar plantation and see the 40 foot masonry chimney, the iron gears and cane press. The plantation, processed sugar cane into sugar, molasses and finally rum.

For many who need to linger, eating by the water is likely one of the pleasures of Homosassa whether or not it’s a informal lunch or dinner at The Shed, on the dock at Macrae’s; or throughout the river at Crump’s Touchdown. Each spots provide reside music. Marguerita’s Grill has a menu that features every part from fried inexperienced beans to shrimp and grits and shrimp with tomatoes, feta cheese, rum and lime. important programs together with sandwiches are round $15.

Sitting alongside the water one is reminded of the lure of Florida for fishermen resembling Homer who mentioned: “This place fits me as if made for me by a form windfall.”