Winslow Homer

One of my favorite topics over the years has been the unique opportunity to step foot in a renowned artist’s home and studio, and then tour the surrounding landscape that figured prominently in many of their most famous works. This includes Winslow Homer’s Prouts Neck, Maine; Edward Hopper’s Truro, Massachusetts; and J Alden Weir’s Wilton, Connecticut home, one of only two national parks in America dedicated to an artist (the other being The Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park in Cornish, New Hampshire). So I was delighted to see that author Valerie Balint has written an entire book on the subject, in the recently released Guide to Historic Artists’ Homes & Studios, published by The National Trust for Historic Preservation. Homer, Hopper, and Weir are all featured in the book along with many other must-see stops like Georgia O’Keeffe’s Abiquiú, New Mexico home and studio, the Grant Woods studio in Cedar Rapids, and the Thomas Hart Benton home in Kansas City. Then there are the lesser known gems like Chesterwood in the Berkshires, the summer home and studio of lauded American sculptor Daniel Chester French, best known as the man who created the Lincoln Memorial. Nearby, you can pop into Bauhaus-inspired Frelinghuyson Morris House & Studio, the home of Suzy Frelinghuyson and George L.K. Morris, painters and collectors of abstract art. If you plan on cruising around America the next year or two, this is one book I’d have in my glove compartment.