Hon. Abraham Lincoln, Born in Kentucky, February 12, 1809, from Harper's Weekly, November 10, 1860
1860
Medium
Graphic Arts-Print
Classification
Graphic Arts-Print
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Ray Austrian Collection, Gift of Beatrice L. Austrian, Caryl A. Austrian and James A. Austrian
Accession Number
1996.63.6
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking print, *Hon. Abraham Lincoln, Born in Kentucky, February 12, 1809*, created by Winslow Homer and published in *Harper's Weekly* on November 10, 1860, captures Abraham Lincoln just days after his election as the 16th U.S. President. Featured in one of America's leading illustrated newspapers, it reflects the nation's excitement and tension amid the looming Civil War. The knee-length portrait places Lincoln in an architectural interior, subtly nodding to his humble Kentucky roots with the inscribed birthplace and date, humanizing the towering figure on the cusp of history. Winslow...
About the Artist
Winslow Homer · 1836–1910
Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was one of America's greatest painters and a preeminent figure in 19th-century American art. Largely self-taught, Homer began his career as a commercial illustrator and Civil War correspondent for Harper's Weekly before becoming renowned for his powerful marine subjects and landscape paintings. His mastery of both oil and watercolor, combined with his uncompromising reali...