Shark Fishing
While the sun is shining bright over the choppy dark blue water, one waits. While floating across the dark open water, it pushes and shoves him all around in his small wooden boat. He’s not alone though. A young boy stands behind in dismay of what lurks beneath them. The most dangerous animal in open water: a shark.
One stands in the halls of Brooklyn Museum in New York City peering at this remarkable painting. In 1885, Winslow Homer created this masterpiece called Shark Fishing. According to The Art Institute of Chicago, Homer created two other similar paintings called Sharks and The Gulf Stream. Of the three pieces of art, Shark Fishing was the first artwork to be created by Homer. All figures in these three pieces, aspired to find control with the situations surrounding them. The battles depicted in the artwork that the individuals faced cause them to…show more content… Winslow Homer expresses this through different aspects of the artwork. As explained before, the main figure is standing up tall above the wounded shark. Through his battle with nature, the path of eyesight between the figure and the shark are sending messages to the viewer. The messages that are being sent from the figure is that he is peering down on the shark showing dominance. The shark is glancing up towards the sky showing suffering and surrendering to heaven above. The figure in the artwork shows how he has the strength and control over things around. Thus, controlling the battle between men vs. nature. The figure shows a sense of control over his surroundings because he has a strong grip on a rope that falls behind the shark’s body. There is a knife placed in the side of the shark’s body, which is also an indication of dominance and control of nature. The figure also exemplifies control because he is hiding the younger figure behind him. He is controlling the situation before them in order to protect the younger