Winslow Homer.

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Self-taught American Naturalist painter, Winslow Homer, entered the world in late February of 1836 in Boston, Massachusetts. Little is known of his artistic endeavors as a child, but by age nineteen, he was working as an apprentice in a lithography studio in Boston. Winslow Homer, disillusioned by the long and claustrophobic hours that the lithographic process required, sought an artistic outlet elsewhere. When 1857 rolled around, he had become a freelance artist for periodicals such as Ballou’s Pictorial and Harper’s Weekly. In two years, he saved enough money to open his own studio in New York.

He continued to work for Harper’s into the war years. After the staggering debacle at Bull Run, President Lincoln appointed General McClellan commander of the Army of the Potomac and Harper’s sent Winslow Homer to the front lines. Homer’s interest, while camping with the Army on the Potomac and following along during McClellan’s disastrous Peninsula Campaign, lay in camp life and scenes of humanity, the romantic everyday struggle of the young soldiers. He did much to glorify the mundane cycles of the daily life of soldiers over the graphic scenes of warfare. Winslow Homer sketched extensively and took his collections of sketchbooks back to his studio in New York to paint. The wartime period influenced his post war art to a great degree. Many of his famous war scenes were painted after the war had ended. Harper’s sent Winslow Homer packing again in 1867, this time to France where he spent a good deal of time studying impressionism. His time in Paris among the impressionists did not overtly influence his artwork.

After Winslow Homer returned, he spent a few more years painting for Harper’s, but in the late 1870s, he retired from his professional career to paint for himself. After twenty years of painting in oils, Winslow Homer began using watercolors. At this time he began to gain nationwide acclaim as an artist. Homer moved to Prout’s Neck, Maine, where he would spend his summers. He spent his winters in the Bahamas and for the rest of his life spent his time on paintings of seascapes. For his sea and beach paintings, Winslow Homer was most widely known and appreciated. The predominant theme of his work in his later years was the struggle between man and nature.

At age 74, Winslow Homer died in his home in Prout’s Neck, his painting, Shoot the Rapids, left unfinished. Though he had no formal training, Winslow Homer became one of the most prolific artists in the American tradition, shaping the course of American art. American Naturalism was named after his style.


James Webb©2005