Editor's note: The San Diego Museum of Art provided source material to Resource Library for the following article or essay. If you have questions or comments regarding the source material, please contact the San Diego Museum of Art directly through either this phone number or web address:

 

Winslow Homer-American Illustrator

June 3 - September 3, 2006

 

The San Diego Museum of Art is presenting for the very first time its collection of 55 wood engravings by Winslow Homer (1836-1910), who is widely regarded as one of America's keenest observers of daily life. As part of its 80th Anniversary celebration, Winslow Homer-American Illustrator will be on view from June 3 to September 3, 2006.

All of the wood engravings presented in the exhibition were gifts made to the San Diego Museum of Art in 2001 through the bequest of Myra Gentner. This representative survey-Homer created 220 total illustrations during his lifetime-spans Homer's career, beginning with Husking the Corn in New England, which was published in the newly emerging popular magazine Harper's Weekly in November 1858. It concludes with Camping Out in the Adirondack Mountains, one of his final illustrations, which appeared in Harper's in November 1874.

The San Diego Museum of Art's collection includes some of Homer's most enduring images, including The Army of the Potomac-A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty (1862), Homeward Bound (1867), The Summit of Mount Washington (1869), and Snap-the-Whip (1873). The engravings on display represent many of the finest works Homer produced in the print medium. Many of the subjects were also explored in oil or watercolor and rank among the iconic images associated with Winslow Homer.

Homer's first illustration appeared on June 13, 1857, in Ballou's Pictorial, a Boston periodical that provided a pictorial record of the picturesque sites and events in his hometown. Later that summer, the newly established Harper's Weekly of New York commissioned five images from Homer to appear in their August 1 issue. In the fall of 1859, about the time that Ballou's was ceasing its publication, Homer moved to New York where he freelanced for Harper's for the next sixteen years.

Although he is counted high on the list of preeminent painters working in the United States during the last half of the 19th century, Winslow Homer spent the first eight years of his professional career, beginning at age 19, working as a graphic artist. His first commissions were for drawings to be transformed into illustrations for the popular magazines that were emerging during this period. Over the years he created many lasting images that encapsulated American life at the end of the 19th century.

 

Following is an article by D. Scott Atkinson, Chief Curator & Curator of American Art, published in the Museum's members magazine:

 

Winslow Homer-American Illustrator will present for the first time at SDMA 55 wood engravings from the Museum's collection that were produced after drawings by one of America's keenest observers of daily life, Winslow Homer (1836-1910). This representative survey-Homer created 220 total illustrations during his lifetime-begins with Husking the Corn in New England, published in the popular magazine Harper's Weekly in November 1858, and concludes with Camping Out in the Adirondack Mountains, one of his final illustrations, appearing in Harper's in November 1874.  
 
SDMA's collection includes some of Homer's most enduring images, representing many of the finest works Homer produced in the print medium. The Army of the Potomac-A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty (1862), Homeward Bound (1867), The Summit of Mount Washington (1869), and Snap-the-Whip (1873) are of particular note. Many of these subjects were also explored in oil or watercolor and rank among the iconic images we associate with Winslow Homer. 
 
Although he is counted high on the list of preeminent painters working in the United States during the last half of the 19th century, Winslow Homer actually spent the first eight years of his professional career, beginning at age 19, working as a graphic artist. Homer's first commissions were for drawings to be transformed into illustrations for the newly emerging popular magazines of the period. Before the invention of photo-mechanical printing processes, illustrations were reproduced in magazines and books as wood-engravings. This process required Homer to draw directly on a prepared boxwood surface before an engraver cut away the wood leaving only his drawn lines.
 
Homer's first illustration appeared June 13, 1857, in Ballou's Pictorial, a Boston periodical that provided a pictorial record of the picturesque sites and events in his hometown. Later that summer, the newly established Harper's Weekly of New York commissioned five images from Homer to appear in their August 1 issue. In the fall of 1859, about the time that Ballou's was ceasing its publication, Homer moved to New York where he freelanced for Harper's for the next sixteen years. 
 
All of the wood engravings presented in Winslow Homer-American Illustrator were gifts made to SDMA in 2001 through the bequest of Myra Gentner. It is with great pride that the Museum features these fine works from this noteworthy collection as part of its 80th anniversary celebration.
 
 
D. Scott Atkinson
 
Chief Curator & Curator of American Art

 

 

(above: Winslow Homer, The Army of the Potomac ­ A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty,Harper's Weekly, November 15, 1862, Volume VII, page 724. Wood engraving. © San Diego Museum of Art. Bequest of Myra Gentner, 2001:72.)

 

(above: Winslow Homer, "Snap-the-Whip",Harper's Weekly, September 20, 1873, Volume XVII, pages 824-825. Wood engraving. © San Diego Museum of Art. Bequest of Myra Gentner, 2001:105.)

 

Editor's note: RL readers may also enjoy these earlier articles and essays:

this streaming slide show:

Winslow Homer's Right and Left from the National Gallery of Art is a narrated show interpreting one painting. Narration is by Nicolai Cikovsky Jr., senior curator of American and British paintings. A transcript is included in the presentation.
 

this online audio segment from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts:

Art on the Air features two-minute radio artist and curator interviews narrated by Daphne Maxwell Reid and are produced by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and New Millennium Studios, and directed by Ruth Twiggs and Anne Barriault, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The broadcasts focus on works of art and artists, materials, and techniques. Sample selections from 2004 include Winslow Homer. (right: Art on the Air graphic courtesy of Virginia Museum of Fine Arts)

and these online resources for Winslow Homer:

 

TFAO also suggests these DVD or VHS videos:

Atlantic Coast of Winslow Homer, The Introduces painter Winslow Homer (1836--1910) and shows his work featuring scenes along the Atlantic Ocean. 35-minute video Description source: Amon Carter Museum Teacher Resource Center. The Museum contains a comprehensive lending library including many videos.
 
Winslow Homer: An American Original is a 49 minute 1999 HBO Artists' Specials series program directed by Graeme Lynch and produced by Devine Entertainment. The artist Winslow Homer has become famous for his illustrations of battle scenes during the Civil War, but he feels disenchanted with what he has experienced and withdraws to a quiet farm. There he meets a pair of teenagers whose lives have been shaken by the war. Together, Homer and the kids learn from each other and move forward with life.
 
Winslow Homer: The Nature of the Artist  is a 29 minute 1986 video directed by Steve York from the National Gallery of Art Series. The art of Winslow Homer is examined in this profile of the American artist, from his early illustrations of the Civil War and his picturesque scenes of the country and shore, to the powerful images of nature that characterize his mature and late work. Commentary by the American art historian John Wilmerding provides a guide to Homer's artistic progress and to his achievements, particularly his transformation of the watercolor medium from the purely descriptive into a highly expressive vehicle.
 
TFAO does not maintain a lending library of videos or sell videos. Click here for information on how to borrow or purchase copies of VHS videos and DVDs listed in TFAO's Videos -DVD/VHS, an authoritative guide to videos in VHS and DVD format

 

Links to sources of information outside of our web site are provided only as referrals for your further consideration. Please use due diligence in judging the quality of information contained in these and all other web sites. Information from linked sources may be inaccurate or out of date. Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc. (TFAO) neither recommends or endorses these referenced organizations. Although TFAO includes links to other web sites, it takes no responsibility for the content or information contained on those other sites, nor exerts any editorial or other control over them. For more information on evaluating web pages see TFAO's General Resources section in Online Resources for Collectors and Students of Art History.

Read more articles and essays concerning this institutional source by visiting the sub-index page for the San Diego Museum of Art in Resource Library.

Visit the Table of Contents for Resource Library for thousands of articles and essays on American art.

Copyright 2006 Traditional Fine Arts Organization, Inc., an Arizona nonprofit corporation. All rights reserved.