Henrietta Maria Benson Homer
Henrietta Maria Benson Homer | |
|---|---|
| Born | Henrietta Maria Benson December 12, 1809 Bucksport, Maine, US |
| Died | April 27, 1884 (aged 74) |
| Resting place | Mount Auburn Cemetery |
| Known for | Watercolor painting |
| Children | Winslow Homer |
Henrietta Maria Benson Homer (December 12, 1809 – April 27, 1884) was an American botanical artist who mainly worked in watercolors and painted studies of nature, especially plants and flowers. She was an important influence on her son, Winslow Homer, who became a preeminent figure in American art.[1][2]
Life and career
Homer née Benson was born in 1809 in Bucksport, Massachusetts (the town became part of Maine in 1820). She was one of nine children of John Benson and Sarah Buck.[3] On June 6, 1833, she married Charles Savage Homer, a merchant, with whom she had three sons.[3][4] Their middle son, born in 1836, was the painter Winslow Homer.[5]
Homer created hundreds of botanical watercolors and drawings during her lifetime.[6] She was a member of the American Watercolor Society and exhibited her watercolors at the Brooklyn Art Association starting in 1873. Her work was included in the 1874 and 1876 Brooklyn Art Association exhibitions alongside the works of her son, Winslow, who took up the medium in earnest in 1873 after seeing his mother's success.[7][8] Bowdoin College Museum of Art and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, among other museums, hold her art in their permanent collections.[9][2] Some of her watercolors were featured at a special exhibition of Winslow's works at the MFA Boston in 2025[10] and at an exhibition of American watercolorists at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2016.[11]
Homer died on April 27, 1884, in Brooklyn, New York.[12] She was buried alongside her son and husband at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[13]
Gallery
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Untitled (Rose Study), 1873
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Sweet Peas, 1875
References
- ^ "Henrietta Maria Benson Homer". CLARA. 15 November 2018. Archived from the original on 15 November 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ a b "Henrietta Benson Homer". Bowdoin College Museum of Art News. December 21, 2015. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
- ^ a b McKee, Kate; Goodyear, Frank (April 27, 2021). "Letters between Winslow Homer's Parents Gifted to the BCMA". Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
- ^ "Letters between Winslow Homer's Parents Gifted to the BCMA". Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ Spassky, Natalie (Spring 1982). "Winslow Homer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 39 (4): 5. ISSN 0026-1521.
- ^ "A Research Portal for American Watercolors, Prints, and Drawings 1850–1925: A Source for Obscure Catalogues, Artists' Societies, and Women Artists". Panorama. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ "Sweet Peas". Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. 12 April 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ "Women and Watercolor". The Magazine Antiques. March 3, 2017. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
- ^ Fravel, Laura (2019-04-12). "Sweet Peas". Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
- ^ "Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Displays Nearly 50 Watercolors by Winslow Homer Together for the First Time in Almost Half a Century". Museum of Fine Arts Boston. October 23, 2025. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
- ^ "Museum Presents Landmark Exhibition on the Watercolor Movement in American Art". Philadelphia Art Museum. December 29, 2016. Retrieved 2025-12-24.
- ^ "Henriette Benson Homer - Biography". AskArt. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
- ^ "Winslow Homer (1836-1910) – Landscape Painter & Civil War Illustrator". Mount Auburn Cemetery. Retrieved 2025-12-24.