Fishermen Climbing over Gunwales, Cullercoats, England 1881 - 1882

Winslow Homer made this pencil drawing, Fishermen Climbing over Gunwales, in Cullercoats, England. The artist's focus on working-class people is something that needs considering within the cultural context of the late nineteenth century. The image represents fishermen in action, in the sense of the everyday life of the coastal community of Cullercoats. Consider what this kind of imagery meant in its own time. Industrialisation had changed the landscape of Britain, so there was a popular interest in romanticising the pre-industrial past. Representations of working-class people can be seen as a form of social documentation. Homer, as an American artist, had the position of an outsider. Was he simply capturing a scene, or making a comment on it? To understand this image, one must immerse oneself in the history of its subject. It is important to explore archives, local histories and visual resources to understand its significance. The meaning of a work of art is deeply entwined with its specific social and institutional context.