Casting, Number Two

Winslow Homer

Watercolor over graphite on paper

National Gallery of Art

Casting, Number Two depicts a solitary figure in a canoe casting a fishing line across a tranquil body of water, the scene made dynamic by the whipped arc of the line and the subtle reflections of the boat's wake on an otherwise still surface. Executed in watercolor over graphite on paper, the work exemplifies Homer's mastery of the watercolor medium—his ability to render luminous atmosphere, quiet motion, and the immediacy of outdoor observation with economy and precision. Winslow Homer (1836–1910), one of the foremost American painters of the nineteenth century, produced a celebrated series of fishing and wilderness watercolors during working visits to the Adirondacks and Quebec, capturing the relationship between man and the natural world with unsentimental clarity. This intimate watercolor belongs to that distinguished body of work in which Homer elevated the sporting subject into a vehicle for serious artistic expression about solitude, nature, and American outdoor life.