Homer lived by his art. Earning money mattered: family lore reports that in the 1870s he did not marry because he was not sure he could support a wife. Even into the twentieth century, when his fame and his finances were secure, he prodded his dealers about prices and ways to market his works more effectively. From the mid-1860s—as soon as he started to sell paintings—Homer attempted to find alternative means of reaching wider audiences. But his efforts took on new urgency in the 1870s, when he contemplated withdrawing from the modest but reliable income wood engraving had provided him since 1857. Homer explored a variety of strategies: the presentation of drawings and watercolors as finished works; the multiple sheets pulled from one etching plate; and, for the broadest public, chromolithographs, illustrated books, and other reproductions.

Search the collection to view all of Homer's watercolors, drawings, etchings, lithographs.