Snap the Whip Artist: Winslow Homer Created: 1872 Dimensions (cm): 91.4 x 55.9 Format: Oil on canvas Location: Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, USA Perhaps Winslow Homer’s most beloved and popular painting was ‘Snap the Whip’, created with oil on canvas in 1872. The historic painting depicts nine young boys playing the age-old game entitled ‘Snap the Whip’. The children are pulling and tugging each other back and forth, while the two at the end of the line have fallen over. The soft, glow of sunlight that peaks through the clouds illuminates their faces. Their clothing, more specifically their caps, suspenders, and short pants, reflects true late 1800 American attire. Featured in the background is the familiar little red school house; the school teachers in the distance are most likely meant to be supervising the usual recess activity. The scenic landscape of trees and wildflowers bordering a small field is so realistic that the viewer can almost hear the chirping of the birds and the buzzing of the insects. Winslow Homer created a second, much smaller version of this painting, replacing the mountain range in the background with a wide, blue sky. ‘Snap the Whip’ was a huge success for the artist, and the painting was frequently reproduced. It was displayed at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Analysis and Reviews Robert Hughes (Nothing If Not Critical: Selected Essays on Art and Artists) once said, “Some major artists create popular stereotypes that last for decades; others never reach into popular culture at all. Winslow Homer was a painter of the first kind. Even today, 150 years after his birth, one sees his echoes on half the magazine racks of America.” Henry James once stated of Winslow Homer’s work, “We frankly confess that we detest his subjects...he has chosen the least pictorial range of scenery and civilization; he has resolutely treated them as if they were pictorial...and, to reward his audacity, he has incontestably succeeded". What is the value of a Winslow Homer painting? In 1998, one of Homer’s paintings entitled “Lost on the Grand Banks” sold for approximately 30 million dollars! It is estimated that Homer created 600 works of art, but very few are owned privately; most are safely kept in museums. ‘Snap the Whip’ is currently located at the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio. Winslow Homer (1836 - 1910) 19th- and 20th-century American Painting and Works on Paper Girl Picking Clover (Houghton Farm) Winslow Homer was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Cambridge, Mass. At age 19, Homer was apprenticed to Boston commercial lithographer, John H. Bufford. Soon after, in 1857, he began free-lancing as an illustrator for Harper's Weekly magazine. He moved to New York in 1859 and worked for Harper's while taking evening life-drawing classes at the National Academy of Design, and taking a few painting lessons from a genre and landscape painter. He was sent by Harper's to Washington, D. C. to cover the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, and, after the Civil War erupted, to record the activities of the Army of the Potomac. During the war, Homer traveled between New York, where he continued his drawing classes at the National Academy, and Virginia where he illustrated various campaigns for Harper's. Homer made his artistic debut with two paintings at the National Academy annual exhibition in 1863, to considerable critical acclaim. In 1864, Homer was elected an Associate Academician, and in 1865, a full Academician. He sailed for France in 1866, spending a year in the artists' colony in Cernay-la-ville. His now famous paintings, Prisoners from the Front, and The Bright Side were exhibited at the Paris Exposition Universelle. The 1870s was a significant decade in Homer's development. He made his first of many trips to the Adirondack Mountains in upper New York State in 1870; in 1871, he moved to the Tenth Street Studio Building, a center of artistic activity where other important American artists had their studios at that time, including Frederic E. Church, John La Farge, Sanford R. Gifford and John Ferguson Weir. In 1873, Homer summered at Gloucester, Massachusetts, and began his first serious watercolors, some of which were exhibited the following year at the annual exhibition of the American Society of Painters in Watercolor. In 1875, he first visited Prout's Neck, Maine (where he settled in 1883), and ended his career as a commercial illustrator. The following year, he first spent time at friend Lawson Valentine's Houghton's Farm in Mountainsville, New York, where he began a series of delightful watercolors of children and young people in the outdoors, enjoying various summertime pleasures. Between 1881 and 1882, he spent nearly two years at Cullercoats, near Newcastle, England, and produced a striking series of watercolors and oils depicting the life of the sea-faring culture along that rugged coast. After his return to New York, he settled in Prout's Neck Maine, and began his annual wintertime trips to Florida, Cuba, Bermuda, and the Bahamas, a habit he continued until 1909. Between 1884 and 1887, he produced the series of oils which firmly established his reputation: The Life Line, The Herring Net, The Fog Warning, Lost in the Grand Banks, Breezing Up, Undertow, and Eight Bells. In 1889, Homer began regular trips to the Adirondacks, and in 1890, he produced his first seascapes. Homer was a regular participant in annual exhibitions, showing his oils and watercolors in New York, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. His paintings were often awarded gold medals. Homer exhibited fifteen paintings in 1893 at the Chicago World's Fair. Beginning in 1900, museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, began to purchase his oils. His reputation as one of America's most significant artists has never waned. He was recognized early on as a realist who was consistently devoted to revealing truth. His subjects ranged from children at work and play, to men and women and the harsh realities they faced in their everyday lives, to the inner quiet of woods shattered by greedy huntsmen and woodsmen, to the glorious color of Caribbean light, to the sea restlessly and relentlessly pounding the rocky and inhospitable shores of Maine. Selected Permanent Collections: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts Art Institute of Chicago Brooklyn Museum The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco Metropolitan Museum of Art Museum of Fine Arts, Boston National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia Philadelphia Museum of Art The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut Winslow Homer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winslow_Homer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) Winslow Homer was an American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in American art. Largely self-taught, Homer began his career working as a commercial illustrator.[1] He subsequently took up oil painting and produced major studio works characterized by the weight and density he exploited from the medium. He also worked extensively in watercolor, creating a fluid and prolific oeuvre, primarily chronicling his working vacations.[2][3] 1 Early life Winslow Homer, at the National Gallery of Art, 2 Gallery New York City, 1880, 3 Homer's studio photo by Napoleon Sarony (1821–1896) 4 Early landscapes and watercolors 5 England Birth Winslow Homer 6 Maine and maturity name 7 Influence Born February 24, 1836 8 Homer honored on US Postage Boston, Massachusetts 9 References Died September 29, 1910 10 Further reading (aged 74) 11 External links Prouts Neck, Maine Nationality American Field Drawing Wood engraving Oil painting Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1836, Homer was the Watercolor painting second of three sons of Charles Savage Homer and Henrietta Benson Homer, both from long lines of New Englanders. His Tra ining Lithography apprenticeship, 1855-56 National Academy of Design mother was a gifted amateur watercolorist and Homer's first (painting), 1863 teacher, and she and her son had a close relationship Paris, France (informal), 1867 throughout their lives. Homer took on many of her traits, including her quiet, strong-willed, terse, sociable nature; her Movement Realism dry sense of humor; and her artistic talent.[4] Homer had a Works Harper's Weekly Magazine happy childhood, growing up mostly in then rural Cambridge, Ballou's Pictorial Magazine Massachusetts. He was an average student, but his art talent Influenced Frederic Remington was evident in his early years. Robert Henri Howard Pyle Homer's father was a volatile, restless businessman who was N. C. Wyeth always looking to "make a killing". When Homer was thirteen, 1 of 10 9/26/2011 11:38 AM Winslow Homer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winslow_Homer Charles gave up the hardware store business to seek a fortune in the California gold rush. When that failed, Charles left his family and went to Europe to raise capital for other get-rich-quick schemes that didn't materialize.[5] After Homer's high school graduation, his father saw a newspaper advertisement and arranged for an apprenticeship. Homer's apprenticeship at the age of 19 to J. H. Bufford, a Boston commercial lithographer, was a formative but "treadmill experience".[6] He worked repetitively on sheet music covers and other commercial work for two years. By 1857, his freelance career was underway after he turned down an offer to join the staff of Harper's Weekly.