Girl Holding a Branch of an Apple Tree
Medium
figures
Classification
figures
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Gift of Charles Savage Homer, Jr.
Accession Number
1912-12-70
About this artwork
A view of a young woman dressed in a pinafore and hat at center, clinging to the branch of an apple tree. She looks to the left and her figure is in shadow. In the background a fence and a portion of a tree are visible.
Art Historical Context
Winslow Homer's *Girl Holding a Branch of Apple Tree* (187) captures a tender moment of youthful curiosity in rural America. At the center, a young woman in a simple pinafore and hat clings to an apple tree branch, figure softly shadowed as she gazes leftward. In the background, a fence and glimpse of another tree evoke a serene, everyday pastoral scene, inviting viewers to feel the warmth of late 19th-century New England life. Homer, a leading figure in American Realism (183–1910), mastered watercolor techniques to portray ordinary people and nature with unflinching honesty and luminous deta...