Winslow Homer - The Obtuse Bard (draft 20150402) screen 074
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WINSLOW HOMER - ROCKY COAST (marked)
Here is Homer's Rocky Coast with three objects animated. The boulder on the shore appears as an abstract face and also has an item protruding above the forehead. Especially with the protruding item above the forehead, the boulder suggests a Sphinx rock. The young man's face, in the top left marking, is very similar to the face in Vedder's painting Memory. At the same time, in spite of the realism of that face, the face is so amazingly subtle, that the clouds are not distorted by it, until after it is discovered. It becomes a switching image, switching between the face and the cloudy sky. Those two items, the Sphinx-like boulder and the young man's face, suggest that Homer's painting has a connection to his friend Elihu Vedder. The face on the top right is similar to Vedder's apprearance, but viewed in the context of the other two items, it seems to me that it actually is a representation of Elihu Vedder. The man on the shore, who is looking at the Sphinx-like rock, appears to represent Vedder's "Questioner." That man is holding a barrel, but I have not figured out the barrel's significance.

Since the face appears very realistic, once it is seen, the quality of that realism makes me conclude that Winslow Homer intentionally and consciously represented that face, making it look like the face in Vedder's painting Memory. All of these objects combine to confirm Homer's intention and the painting's connection to Vedder.

I think Winslow Homer probably painted this as a private joke to be shared among his artist friends, especially Vedder -- the "boys" as Vedder had called them in his greeting card story.

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Copyright 1992-2015 Peter Bueschen
The presentation is available at The Obtuse Bard website http://obtusebard.org.