Olivia
Although versatile in a wide variety of mediums, Winslow Homer won true fame for his distinctive paintings. His long career evidences the gradual transformation from an illustrator to an artist with a penetrating psychological message. The artist’s skill in realizing fluid watercolors and vibrant oils recalled his early training as an apprentice in a lithography shop (Wilmerding). This work allowed Homer the opportunity to realize clear spatial patterns and compositional arrangements, skills that were later evidenced in Homer’s artful construction of the elements in a painting (Wilmerding). As the Civil War drew attention away from the artistic world and focused it upon the brewing political storm, Homer was drawn from his apprenticeship to the publications of Ballou’s Pictorial in Boston and later Harper’s Weekly in New York (Wilmerding). As technology of the time prevented the reproduction of photographs in magazines, Homer was charged with the task of capturing these images in illustrative form (Miller). The Army of the Potomac—A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty, completed in 1862, realizes the artist’s endeavors to encapsulate the technique and skill of the soldiers (Miller).
Within this climate of national turmoil, Homer began to paint. Dispatched to the front by Harper’s Weekly, the artist witnessed the brutality of warfare first hand (Wilmerding). Although never undergoing formal training in fine art, Homer endeavored to record his experiences on canvas (Wilmerding). The resulting work greatly resembled the clear imagery of photography, an emerging medium of the era (Wilmerding). An oil painting from 1866, Prisoners from the Front, realizes the conclusion of war as soldiers lay down their weapons and commence a new era of peace (Miller). The static, unmoving scene, lacking in dramatic action, is much influenced by the photography of Homer’s past (Wilmerding). As early cameras tended to capture the foreground clearly yet leave the distant grounds in a haze, Homer’s work vacates the background of scenery, focusing on the action of the frontal gathering (Miller). Also mirroring a photograph is the clarity in image, in the style of Realism. Absent of the charged emotion and blatant biases of the Romantic pieces, Prisoners from the Front captures a scene through the eyes of an independent third party. There in the foreground, as a Union officer stands in opposition to three Confederate prisoners, the estrangement caused by war is recognizable as the gapping space that separates the two groups (Miller).
For Winslow Homer, as the war came to a close, a new door opened for a future in painting. Relieved of his journalistic duties, the artist journeyed to France in 1867 in pursuit of creative inspiration (Wilmerding). While there, Homer came in contact with modern French forms (Wilmerding). Evidence also points to his investigation of Japanese prints on display in Paris (Wilmerding). These potent influences immediately emerged in his works as he adopted a new experimentation with disproportionality, deep contours, and a luminesce color-palette. This fresh and exuberant style was ideal in communicating the atmosphere of joy that followed the termination of war. Made buoyant by the tranquility of his country, Homer translated his bright outlook onto canvas. The vivid hues of Breezing Up, completed in 1876, effortlessly translate this optimism onto canvas. Devoting his summers to Gloucester, Massachusetts, Homer drew inspiration for his work from these merry summer scenes (Wilmerding). In the piece, an older man and three young boys enjoy an active afternoon of carefree sailing, whipped along by the breeze. With strong diagonal movement and rough water, the strong wind is further emphasized. This style is much like the Japanese ukiyo-e prints that Homer allegedly witnessed in Paris. As we can see in Hokusai’s famed depiction of Mt. Fuji, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Homer’s white-capped motifs can be traced back to Japanese woodblock prints. Homer’s realization of movement before the stark background of the sky furthers his jubilant tone (Wilmerding).
The freedom and release from a wartime atmosphere is furthered in Homer’s watercolors. Diving into a new medium in this peacetime, Homer discovered a new technique to accomplish the luminosity he desired. These watercolors further departed from the strict formality of the Hudson River School, embracing a freer and more open appeal. Such is the case with Homer’s Boys Wading, a watercolor from 1893 of two boys as they toil away gathering clams (Wilmerding). Near Gloucester’s wharves, the rippling water lends itself to Homer’s medium. Evincing his skill with watercolor, Homer achieves the reflective surface of water with ease (Wilmerding). The shimmering mirror is both glassy and translucent, encapsulating the true character of water. As time passed, Homer’s watercolors became increasingly free (Wilmerding). Moving away from saturated colors and precise outlines, the watercolorist embraced the white of the page and integrated a loose fluidity in his works, attaining the full potential of the medium. These experimentations anticipated the rise of a new artistic movement, impressionism.
As Reconstruction drew to a close, Homer returned to the South (Miller). With the withdrawal of the federal government’s troops from the region, the artist was eager to paint the life of newly freed African-Americans in Virginia (Miller). Stretching back to his roots as a magazine illustrator, Homer sought to depict the challenges of his contemporary America (Miller). As the question of the African-Americans’ future in the United States prevailed, Homer’s work addressed the issue plaguing the common mind. Homer chronicles his findings in his work, immortalizing African-Americans’ plight to establish a niche in southern society. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Homer avoided stereotypical depictions, striving to achieve accuracy rather than conform to the typecasting that falsely represented African-American culture (Miller). Dressing for the Carnival, painted in 1877, depicts two women’s final adjustments to a man’s patchwork costume (Miller). Likely departing for an Independence Day parade, the children hold American flags in respect for the nation which they call home (Miller). Seizing the opportunity to revel as new citizens of America, the former slaves demonstrate new patriotism. As freed slaves of the Roman Empire had, the man dons a Phrygian cap, associated with liberation and emancipation (Miller). Yet the patriotism is married to the West African culture of the people’s lineage. Garbed in the wild fashions of Jonkonnu performances, festivals common in plantation life that blended African and European traditions, the people allude to their heritage through their bright costuming (Miller). This positive view of black future in America is full of promise. Homer foresees, or at least aspires toward, a time when African and European influences amalgamate to form a rich new culture.
After more than twenty years had passed, Homer’s hopes that former slaves would seamlessly integrate into American culture had faded. The tragedy of Americans’ failure to embrace this culture is highlighted in The Gulf Stream, completed in 1899 (Miller). With tumultuous seas and a fearsome tempest, a man of African descent struggles to control his rickety raft (Miller). With the mast destroyed and a cluster of threatening sharks surrounding him, the man’s fate appears bleak (Miller). In the distance, a grand vessel sails on, failing to recognize the man in his time of need. The doomed man in the foreground appears to have given up hope of salvation, turning his head as this “ship of state” abandons him in a metaphor of a failing U.S. government (Miller). As flying fish leap from the red-tinted water, able to defy gravity, the subject looks on. Unlike these liberated fish, the man is bound to his dilapidated craft and forever barred from freedom. This pessimistic vision of American disunity and estrangement probes fearful questions of the American future.
Winslow Homer’s artistic ability won him great esteem. Yet perhaps Homer’s greatest victory was his earnest attempt to eternalize the issues of the day. Rising from an illustrator to an acclaimed master of the brush, Homer’s path as an artist demonstrates his eagerness to communicate effectively with a variety of viewers. Born into a turbulent period in American history, the artist sought to capture the everyday life of his world. Rich with emotion, both despondent and celebratory, his works translate the sentiments of his time to modern viewers.
Works Cited
Miller, Angela, et al. American Encounters: Art, History, and Cultural Identity. London: Prentice Hall, 2008. 273-275. 133-136
Wilmerding, John. American Art. Kingsport: Penguin Books, 1976. 288-291
Images Cited
“Boys Wading by Winslow Homer-Watercolor Painting.” 2012. Ruby Lane. 26 November 2012.
<http://www.rubylane.com/item/322168-0446/Boys-Wading-Winslow-Homer-Watercolor>.
“Dressing for the Carnival.” 13 November 2012. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 26 November 2012.
< http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/22.220>.
“Homer Breezing Up.” wpclipart.com. 26 November 2012.
<http://www.wpclipart.com/art/Paintings/Artists_H_to_M/Homer__Breezing_Up.jpg.html>.
“Prisoners from the Front.” 13 November 2012. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 26 November 2012.
< http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/22.207>.
“The Great Wave of Kanagawa.” Wikipedia. 26 November 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa>.
“The Gulf Stream.” 13 November 2012. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 26 November 2012.
< http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/06.1234>.
“Winslow Homer.” 2005. The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. 26 November 2012.
<http://www.clarkart.edu/exhibitions/homer/ia/ts.cfm?ObjectID=4>.
Although versatile in a wide variety of mediums, Winslow Homer won true fame for his distinctive paintings. His long career evidences the gradual transformation from an illustrator to an artist with a penetrating psychological message. The artist’s skill in realizing fluid watercolors and vibrant oils recalled his early training as an apprentice in a lithography shop (Wilmerding). This work allowed Homer the opportunity to realize clear spatial patterns and compositional arrangements, skills that were later evidenced in Homer’s artful construction of the elements in a painting (Wilmerding). As the Civil War drew attention away from the artistic world and focused it upon the brewing political storm, Homer was drawn from his apprenticeship to the publications of Ballou’s Pictorial in Boston and later Harper’s Weekly in New York (Wilmerding). As technology of the time prevented the reproduction of photographs in magazines, Homer was charged with the task of capturing these images in illustrative form (Miller). The Army of the Potomac—A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty, completed in 1862, realizes the artist’s endeavors to encapsulate the technique and skill of the soldiers (Miller).
Within this climate of national turmoil, Homer began to paint. Dispatched to the front by Harper’s Weekly, the artist witnessed the brutality of warfare first hand (Wilmerding). Although never undergoing formal training in fine art, Homer endeavored to record his experiences on canvas (Wilmerding). The resulting work greatly resembled the clear imagery of photography, an emerging medium of the era (Wilmerding). An oil painting from 1866, Prisoners from the Front, realizes the conclusion of war as soldiers lay down their weapons and commence a new era of peace (Miller). The static, unmoving scene, lacking in dramatic action, is much influenced by the photography of Homer’s past (Wilmerding). As early cameras tended to capture the foreground clearly yet leave the distant grounds in a haze, Homer’s work vacates the background of scenery, focusing on the action of the frontal gathering (Miller). Also mirroring a photograph is the clarity in image, in the style of Realism. Absent of the charged emotion and blatant biases of the Romantic pieces, Prisoners from the Front captures a scene through the eyes of an independent third party. There in the foreground, as a Union officer stands in opposition to three Confederate prisoners, the estrangement caused by war is recognizable as the gapping space that separates the two groups (Miller).
For Winslow Homer, as the war came to a close, a new door opened for a future in painting. Relieved of his journalistic duties, the artist journeyed to France in 1867 in pursuit of creative inspiration (Wilmerding). While there, Homer came in contact with modern French forms (Wilmerding). Evidence also points to his investigation of Japanese prints on display in Paris (Wilmerding). These potent influences immediately emerged in his works as he adopted a new experimentation with disproportionality, deep contours, and a luminesce color-palette. This fresh and exuberant style was ideal in communicating the atmosphere of joy that followed the termination of war. Made buoyant by the tranquility of his country, Homer translated his bright outlook onto canvas. The vivid hues of Breezing Up, completed in 1876, effortlessly translate this optimism onto canvas. Devoting his summers to Gloucester, Massachusetts, Homer drew inspiration for his work from these merry summer scenes (Wilmerding). In the piece, an older man and three young boys enjoy an active afternoon of carefree sailing, whipped along by the breeze. With strong diagonal movement and rough water, the strong wind is further emphasized. This style is much like the Japanese ukiyo-e prints that Homer allegedly witnessed in Paris. As we can see in Hokusai’s famed depiction of Mt. Fuji, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Homer’s white-capped motifs can be traced back to Japanese woodblock prints. Homer’s realization of movement before the stark background of the sky furthers his jubilant tone (Wilmerding).
The freedom and release from a wartime atmosphere is furthered in Homer’s watercolors. Diving into a new medium in this peacetime, Homer discovered a new technique to accomplish the luminosity he desired. These watercolors further departed from the strict formality of the Hudson River School, embracing a freer and more open appeal. Such is the case with Homer’s Boys Wading, a watercolor from 1893 of two boys as they toil away gathering clams (Wilmerding). Near Gloucester’s wharves, the rippling water lends itself to Homer’s medium. Evincing his skill with watercolor, Homer achieves the reflective surface of water with ease (Wilmerding). The shimmering mirror is both glassy and translucent, encapsulating the true character of water. As time passed, Homer’s watercolors became increasingly free (Wilmerding). Moving away from saturated colors and precise outlines, the watercolorist embraced the white of the page and integrated a loose fluidity in his works, attaining the full potential of the medium. These experimentations anticipated the rise of a new artistic movement, impressionism.
As Reconstruction drew to a close, Homer returned to the South (Miller). With the withdrawal of the federal government’s troops from the region, the artist was eager to paint the life of newly freed African-Americans in Virginia (Miller). Stretching back to his roots as a magazine illustrator, Homer sought to depict the challenges of his contemporary America (Miller). As the question of the African-Americans’ future in the United States prevailed, Homer’s work addressed the issue plaguing the common mind. Homer chronicles his findings in his work, immortalizing African-Americans’ plight to establish a niche in southern society. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Homer avoided stereotypical depictions, striving to achieve accuracy rather than conform to the typecasting that falsely represented African-American culture (Miller). Dressing for the Carnival, painted in 1877, depicts two women’s final adjustments to a man’s patchwork costume (Miller). Likely departing for an Independence Day parade, the children hold American flags in respect for the nation which they call home (Miller). Seizing the opportunity to revel as new citizens of America, the former slaves demonstrate new patriotism. As freed slaves of the Roman Empire had, the man dons a Phrygian cap, associated with liberation and emancipation (Miller). Yet the patriotism is married to the West African culture of the people’s lineage. Garbed in the wild fashions of Jonkonnu performances, festivals common in plantation life that blended African and European traditions, the people allude to their heritage through their bright costuming (Miller). This positive view of black future in America is full of promise. Homer foresees, or at least aspires toward, a time when African and European influences amalgamate to form a rich new culture.
After more than twenty years had passed, Homer’s hopes that former slaves would seamlessly integrate into American culture had faded. The tragedy of Americans’ failure to embrace this culture is highlighted in The Gulf Stream, completed in 1899 (Miller). With tumultuous seas and a fearsome tempest, a man of African descent struggles to control his rickety raft (Miller). With the mast destroyed and a cluster of threatening sharks surrounding him, the man’s fate appears bleak (Miller). In the distance, a grand vessel sails on, failing to recognize the man in his time of need. The doomed man in the foreground appears to have given up hope of salvation, turning his head as this “ship of state” abandons him in a metaphor of a failing U.S. government (Miller). As flying fish leap from the red-tinted water, able to defy gravity, the subject looks on. Unlike these liberated fish, the man is bound to his dilapidated craft and forever barred from freedom. This pessimistic vision of American disunity and estrangement probes fearful questions of the American future.
Winslow Homer’s artistic ability won him great esteem. Yet perhaps Homer’s greatest victory was his earnest attempt to eternalize the issues of the day. Rising from an illustrator to an acclaimed master of the brush, Homer’s path as an artist demonstrates his eagerness to communicate effectively with a variety of viewers. Born into a turbulent period in American history, the artist sought to capture the everyday life of his world. Rich with emotion, both despondent and celebratory, his works translate the sentiments of his time to modern viewers.
Works Cited
Miller, Angela, et al. American Encounters: Art, History, and Cultural Identity. London: Prentice Hall, 2008. 273-275. 133-136
Wilmerding, John. American Art. Kingsport: Penguin Books, 1976. 288-291
Images Cited
“Boys Wading by Winslow Homer-Watercolor Painting.” 2012. Ruby Lane. 26 November 2012.
<http://www.rubylane.com/item/322168-0446/Boys-Wading-Winslow-Homer-Watercolor>.
“Dressing for the Carnival.” 13 November 2012. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 26 November 2012.
< http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/22.220>.
“Homer Breezing Up.” wpclipart.com. 26 November 2012.
<http://www.wpclipart.com/art/Paintings/Artists_H_to_M/Homer__Breezing_Up.jpg.html>.
“Prisoners from the Front.” 13 November 2012. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 26 November 2012.
< http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/22.207>.
“The Great Wave of Kanagawa.” Wikipedia. 26 November 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa>.
“The Gulf Stream.” 13 November 2012. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 26 November 2012.
< http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/06.1234>.
“Winslow Homer.” 2005. The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. 26 November 2012.
<http://www.clarkart.edu/exhibitions/homer/ia/ts.cfm?ObjectID=4>.