ART REVIEW: "Winslow Homer: Eyewitness""Winslow Home: Eyewitness” at the Harvard Art Museums presents drawings, prints, photographs, oil paintings, and watercolors, primarily from the Museums own collections. The objective is to show that during his career, Winslow Homer remained influenced by his early work as a wartime newspaper illustrator.
Homer was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1836. Growing up in nearby Cambridge, he received no formal art training but his mother, a talented amateur watercolorist, gave him lessons and encouraged his interest in art. After graduating high school, he became an apprentice to a lithographer in Boston. He hated this job so much that he vowed never to work for anyone again. To earn his living, Homer became a freelance illustrator. Although photography had been invented, taking photographs was still a cumbersome process and it was difficult to transform them into something which could be printed. Therefore newspapers and magazines were eager to hire artists to illustrate their publications. Homer's talent was quickly recognized and he became a leading illustrator by the end of the 1850s. In 1859, Homer moved to New York City, which would be his winter home until the 1880s. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, newspapers and magazines wanted illustrations relating to the war. Harper's Weekly, the leading publication of the day, commissioned Homer to make a number of trips to the front. There, he honed his powers of observation and his ability to record essential forms. As the Museums point out, the illustrators of that time, like the news gathers of today, had to make decisions about how to cover the war. One option was to show it as a glorious crusade with flags and parades. At the other extreme, one could show the brutality and senseless destruction. Rather than concentrate on the fighting, Homer often drew scenes of the soldiers in camp going about their everyday lives. Back in New York, he often did illustrations showing the effect of the war on the women left behind. During this period, journalistic integrity was not at a high point. Like today, the various media outlets charged each other with fabricating the news. To meet such charges, illustrators had to strive for authenticity. Homer's works were regarded as quite authentic. The people shown come across as real people. In addition, they contain detail that showed they were based on actual experience. At the same time as he was working as an illustrator, Homer began to work as a painter. He took a few lessons at the National Academy of Design and from established artists such as Frederic Rondel. Quickly mastering oil painting, he exhibited paintings and received recognition from the critics. Some of these paintings, such as “Prisoners from the Front,” “Home Sweet Home” and “Pitching Quoits” are scenes of the war. Based upon sketches Homer made at the front, they show soliders in camp passing the time between fighting. Thus, we see that from the start Homer was making use of his experience as a wartime illustrator. After the war, Homer continued to pursue a two-track career. He continued to work as an illustrator while at the same time, producing paintings. Although Homer is often referred to as a landscape painter, the majority of his works contain people. Homer was interested not just in the natural surroundings but the relationship of people to those surroundings. This journalistic approach continued even after Homer gave up being an illustrator in 1874. Although based in New York City and then at the end of his life, Prout's Neck, Maine, Homer traveled extensively. He spent time in places such as the Adirondack mountains of New York, Key West, Florida, France, England and the Bahamas. In those places, he found subjects for his paintings and as he had done as an illustrator, he observed and made decisions about what to include and how much detail was needed to maintain authenticity. The works presented in the exhibition are mostly from the beginning and end of his career. Consequently, one cannot trace the extent to which his experience as a wartime illustrator affected Homer's art through all of his changes in style. However, the fact that it can be seen at both the beginning and the end, show that it did remain throughout. |
Above: Homer's "Two Zouaves", a drawing in black and white chalk of two Union soldiers.
Above: Homer's "Prisoners At The Front."
Below: "Sea Garden, Bahamas". |
Art review - Harvard Art Museums - Winslow Homer: Eyewitness