Artist: Winslow Homer
Artist Nationality: American
Artist Dates: 1836–1910
Title: Snap The Whip
Date:
Condition: Folds consistent with other editions, some discoloring lower right corner
Medium: Engraving
Dimensions: Sight: 14 1/4 x 20 in.; Framed: 20 x 26 3/4 x 1 1/4 in.
Estimated Value: $2,500
Signature/Markings: Inscription: in block: "Homer 1873, Lagarde Sc."; printed below image: "Snap-the-Whip – Drawn by Winslow Homer"
Nine barefoot boys play snap the whip. Seven boys are holding onto each other's hands while two boys have broken away on the left. On the right middle ground is a school house. On the left, children can be seen in the background.
Winslow Homer, one of the most important figures in early American art, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1836. With very little formal training, Homer worked as an illustrator for many of the most prestigious publications of his day. Harper's weekly employed him to chronicle the Civil War.
Homer submitted work regularly to the National Academy of Design, and by 1866 was elected a full-member of that group. Homer made two trips to Europe, between which he'd lived in New York, before settling permanently in a secluded coastal village in Maine, seeking solitude and a similar coastline to what he'd painted in England.
Homer found in the Maine landscape the drama and plays of light and shadow that helped express his views of man's role in nature. (Bio sourced from the archives of AskArt)
Provenance:
Private New York Collection
Exhibition History:
Publication History: