Hunter in the Adirondacks 1892

Winslow Homer created 'Hunter in the Adirondacks' with watercolor paint at an unknown date. Homer spent a great deal of time in the Adirondack mountains, drawn to the tension between the myth of the wilderness and its increasing popularity as a tourist destination. Here we see a hunter pausing on a fallen tree, an axe balanced on his shoulder and a small animal in his other hand. His dark clothing and hat are at odds with the sunlit forest around him, calling into question his place in the woods. The rise of tourism in the Adirondacks was changing not only the physical landscape of the area, but also the way people thought about nature and humankind's relationship to it. Paintings like this one can tell us a lot about how ideas about nature were changing in the United States during the late 19th century. To learn more, look into the history of tourism and environmentalism in the Adirondacks. Such research reveals how artists like Homer shaped and reflected these evolving perspectives.