Winslow Homer, American Gulfstream and Breezing Up are two of Homer's best known paintings, and now you can see why he is considered a very American painter. He worked during the civil war as an artist and illustrator for magazines and newspapers, recording images like Home Sweet Home, 1863, and Prisoners From the Front, 1866. Homer worked in oils on canvas, like most painters of this time, but he also considered watercolor a medium in its' own right, and though critics loved his bright, crisp colors, they thought these works looked unfinished because the paper showed, and the paintings didn't have detail everywhere -- this just wasn't done in the 1800's! See this example, The Mink Pond He made frequent trips to the Bahamas, later in life giving up hunting, but retaining his love of fishing and the ocean, and the people who made their living by the ocean. But the paintings the American public likes best are the ones that represent a simpler, more innocent time, like Blackboard and Crack the Whip. He painted a picture called Left
and Right about which the Nat'l Gallery of Art has created a brilliant
slide presentation. It gives a very insightful look at the picture
and the artist. It also teaches us how to look at a painting, by example.
More Winslow Homer art work at the National Gallery of Art. |
