The Sleighing Season – The Upset (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. IV)
January 14, 1860
Medium
Wood engraving
Dimensions
image: 9 1/8 x 13 3/4 in. (23.2 x 34.9 cm) sheet: 10 3/4 x 15 15/16 in. (27.3 x 40.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928
Accession Number
28.111.1(1)
Tags
Art Historical Context
### The Sleighing Season The Upset Published *Harper's Weekly* January 14, 1860, Winslow Homer's wood engraving *The Sleighing Season The Upset* captures moment of winter exuberance on the cusp of America's Civil War. At the outset of his career, the 24-year-old Homer vivid illustrations to this influential periodical, documenting the social customs of the era. Sleighing was a popular pastime in the Northeast, blending recreation with flirtation, and this image from Volume IV reflects the lively, communal spirit of mid-19th-century leisure. The scene humorously depicts the pandemonium of an ...
About the Artist
Winslow Homer|Harper's Weekly|Harper & Brothers · 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...