Snap-the-Whip, from Harper's Weekly, September 20, 1873
1873
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
1996.63.127
Tags
Art Historical Context
Winslow Homer's *Snap-the-Whip*, published in *Harper's Weekly* on 20, 1873, captures a joyful moment of childhood exuberance in rural America. This wood engraving print depicts a line of boys gleefully holding hands as they whirl in the energetic game of "snap-the-whip," against a simple plain with a distant house. Rendered in Homer's signature realistic style, the image bursts with dynamic motion, the children's clothing billowing and legs blurring to convey speed and abandon. As a leading illustrator for *Harper's Weekly*, Homer masterfully translated his oil paintings into black-and-white...
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...