Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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68 JULY 2019 I N - D E P T H Oliver Baker is the director of the Cape Ann Museum. their backs to us; the sun is gleaming off the sea and sky, and boats are floating in the pastel backdrop. Cross points out that "some are wearing bathing suits and some are not." Inno- cent or not, to the growing numbers of tourists gravitating to Gloucester during the summer, boys going au naturel tested Victorian propriety. It's a snapshot in time, but in actuality the "risqué" behavior forced locals to reevaluate perceptions of innocence. "Laws were passed: Thou shalt wear bathing suits," Cross says. "Gloucester newspapers carried stories stating that you could be arrested for not wearing a bathing suit." Other paintings show boys idling on outcroppings, their faces shadowed beneath straw hats. In their anonymity, Homer reaches out for a universal essence of childhood rather than the particulars of one individual's experiences. Such everyday activity brings to my mind John Updike's observation about his duty to writing: "to give the mundane its beautiful due." Homer began the beach scene By the Shore in New Jer- sey and finished it in Manchester, Massachusetts. In the foreground, three women, posh in their in Victorian bustle dresses, lounge beneath parasols. In their gaze, six bathers, all women in their "water-cure costumes" (swimsuits), splash playfully through the incoming tide. Our attention is drawn to the left to the woman leaning forward, lifting and squeez- ing excess seawater from her gray swimsuit trimmed in red, her soaked red hair falling over her face. Through meticulous research, consulting costume historian Lynne Bassett discov- PHOTOGRAPH BY ELISE SINAGRA MODELS MODEL Cosmetic Dermatology MODEL Medical Dermatology Love the skin you're in. Call (978) 525-0100 to book your next appointment! Now Providing Exceptional Care to Patients in Peabody, Massachusetts! www.DermSkinHealth.com Dermatology & Skin Health - Peabody 23 Centennial Drive, Peabody, MA 01960 Where excep onal care comes first. Services Offered • Medical Dermatology • Skin Cancer Treatments • Mohs Surgery • Annual Skin Checks • Cosme c Dermatology • Botox & Fillers