The Fisherman
Object Description
Although best known as a painter of gritty urban scenes, Bellows created more than 250 seascapes, most portraying the Atlantic Coast in Maine. But he turned his attention to the Pacific in 1917, when his family vacationed in the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, on the northern tip of Big Sur. There, he created this work, one of his last major ocean paintings.
Bellows was fascinated by the bright colors of the Pacific, and he relied on a jewellike palette of brilliant blues, greens, purples, pinks, and ochres to render water crashing against a rocky coastline. He considered the sea one of the most challenging subjects to paint, and the lone angler maneuvering his line may symbolize the struggle of the artist as he grappled with his chosen subject.
—Text taken from the Carter Handbook (2023)
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Teacher Resources
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What does balance, or imbalance, contribute to a work of art?
How is the archetypal theme of human versus nature depicted in works of art?
What symbolic roles has the sea played in the artistic traditions of various groups and cultures?
How have attitudes about leisure and its place in society changed or stayed the same over time?
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Grades 1–5
Ask students to imagine the sensory experience of this moment: how does the rock feel under their shoes? What sounds do they hear? What smells are present? Ask students to adopt the pose of the fisherman: What might be his next motion?
Grades 6–12
Ask students to consider a time in their own life when they struggled with something (athletic, academic, or personal). How did they find the balance to succeed or overcome it? Students will then create/design a way to show the balance between the difficulty of that situation and the growth that resulted from it.