Winslow Homer (WINZ lo HOME er) was born in Boston in
1836. His
mother was an artist and encouraged young Winslow in learning to draw.
At age 19. he was illustrating sheet music covers and then when he was
21, he started working as an illustrator for a new magazine,
Harper's Weekly.
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When the Civil War began, he went to the war front and
began to paint war scenes. Then he went to Paris and studied for
a few months.
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He spent some time on the coast of England and also in
the state of Maine. Many of his paintings such as Sailing the
Catboat reflect the knowledge
he gained of the sea and life on the coast.
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Homer would do studies in pencil before he painted a
picture. Sometimes he worked with oil paints and sometimes with
watercolor. His watercolor pictures provided a very good income for him.
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He enjoyed painting pictures of children.
In his painting Snap the Whip,
he shows what life was like in 1872. In this painting, the children are
taking a break from their classes in the "little red schoolhouse". The
green of the hills and grass make up the largest portion of the
painting. Notice how the red color of the schoolhouse stands out,
and how your eye is drawn to the white shirts on three of the boys.
None of the boys are wearing shoes.
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Homer liked to be by himself and he never married. For
the last 27 years of his life he lived in a remote part of
Maine away from people.
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