Our Watering Places--Horse-racing at Saratoga, from Harper's Weekly, August 26, 1865
1865
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
1996.63.61
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of post-Civil War America with Winslow Homer's *Our Watering Places--Horse-racing at Saratoga*, a lively wood engraving published in *Harper's Weekly* on August 26, 1865. Homer, a pioneering American Realist renowned for his keen eye for everyday life, captured the excitement of thoroughbred racing at New York's famed Saratoga Springs resort. This bustling scene teems with figure groups—elegant spectators in summer finery, jockeys urging horses forward, and the raw energy of the track—offering a window into the nation's budding leisure culture just months after the ...
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...