Girls in a Landscape

Girls in a Landscape is one of Winslow Homer's earliest paintings of country children, a theme that would preoccupy him throughout the 1870s. It shows a trio of older girls, almost young women, seated together on a rustic wall of boulders. The central figure gathers wildflowers into a small bouquet, for which the girl on the left proffers several clover leaves; the third girl, echoing the pose of the middle one, looks on, her hands folded in her lap. All three wear white aprons and small straw hats. Like most of the children portrayed by Homer, the three girls seem unaware of the viewer, absorbed in their simple task in a composition as intimate as its physical scale. Girls in a Landscape may have served as the basis for a very similar woodcut illustration designed by Homer that was published in a magazine in 1873. It probably was painted in Gloucester, Massachusetts, a fishing village in which Homer spent the summer of 1873. During that time, he turned his attention to the portrayal of children, completing such works as the Terra Foundation's watercolor Three Boys on the Shore (TF 1999.75), in which the companionable trio of resting figures, unselfconsciously absorbed in their contemplation of a common object, echo the three girls in this painting.

100 Years of American Art, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California, January 26–March 4, 1979.

Collection Cameo, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 1995.

Regard sur Winslow Homer (Winslow Homer at a Glance), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 1995.

Domestic Bliss: Family Life in America, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, April 12–June 22, 1997.

A Place on the Avenue: Terra Museum of American Art Celebrates 15 Years in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 16, 2002–February 16, 2003.

American Classics from the Collection, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, May 14–June 15, 2003.

American Classics, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 13, 2003–February 8, 2004.

La Scène américaine, 1860–1930 (Americans at Home, 1860–1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, Giverny, France, July 10–October 30, 2005.

Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 15–October 31, 2007.

Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2008.

The American Painting Collection of Mrs. Norman B. Woolworth. (exh. cat., Coe Kerr Gallery, Inc.). New York: Coe Kerr Gallery, Inc., 1970. Ill. 51, p. 32. Hendricks, Gordon. The Life and Works of Winslow Homer. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1979. Text p. 100; fig. 142, p. 90 (black & white).

Girls in a Landscape, Winslow Homer. Collection Cameo sheet, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 1995. Ill. (black & white).

Wilson, Claire. "Winslow Homer at Giverny." France Magazine 35 (Summer 1995). Ill. p. 9.