Photo of the Day

A turning point.

It is October 1861.

The Civil War is in its sixth month.

The recent defeat of the Union Army in Manasas, Virginia, just twenty-five miles from Washington, has made it clear that the war will be long and costly.

Cavalry Charge, a Winslow Homer engraving for Harper’s Weekly.

For the news magazine Harper’s Weekly, the war will become their major story.

So, they hire thirty combat artists to draw images from the war for their 200,000 subscribers.

Winslow Homer (1836-1910), depicted at age 21 and photographed at age 44.

Among them is twenty-five-year-old Winslow Homer, a free-lance commercial illustrator then living in New York City.

Winslow Homer, Presidents Buchanan and Lincoln entering the senate chamber before the inauguration, 1861.

He got the job after completing an assignment from Harper’s to cover Lincoln’s March inauguration.

The Surgeon at Work in the Rear, during an Engagement, a Homer engraving for Harper’s Weekly.

The mass reproduction of photographs was not possible then, so news publications hired artists to make drawings.

Christmas Boxes in Camp, a Homer wood engraving for Harper’s Weekly.

These drawings would be sent to the publication’s engravers, who would convert them to wood block engravings, which were easily reproduced.

The Army of the Potomac– A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty, a Homer engraving for Harper’s Weekly.

Homer sketched battle scenes and camp life along Virginia’s front lines, using his combat artist assignment to hone his artistic technique.

Then, back in his New York studio, Homer converted some of these sketches into paintings.

They were well received by art critics.

And their popularity convinced Homer to refocus his art career from illustrator to painter.

Winslow Homer, Prisoners from the Front, 1866.

Homer maintained the direct, realistic style he had mastered as a combat artist, giving his paintings a candor which set them apart from the emotional, idealized images of his contemporaries.

Winslow Homer, Home Sweet Home, 1863.

And people liked the change.

Winslow Homer, A Veteran in a New Field, 1865. A discarded Union jacket and canteen lay on the ground in the lower right.

So, for Winslow Homer, the Civil War proved to be a bridge to greatness.

Winslow Homer, Boys in a Dory, 1873.

He is now considered the leading American artist of the nineteenth century.

Winslow Homer, On the Trail, 1889.

War can change everything.

Sometimes, even for the better.

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I’ll see you tomorrow.

— Brenda

Banner image: Winslow Homer, Snap the Whip, 1872.