Title: describe.
Describe how Homer divided the scene in this painting. He divided it into three strips of color with a band of sky, a wider band of standing wheat, and another band of cut wheat in the foreground.
Of what war was this man a veteran? He was a veteran of the Civil War. How does Homer show us this? His military uniform jacket and canteen lie in the lower right corner.
What might laying aside his uniform represent? He has set aside soldiering and returned to regular life.
Why is this a new field for him? It may be literally a new field of grain, but it is also a new field of work for him after fighting for years.
If this man had been in a grain field the previous year, what would he probably have been doing? Probably fighting a battle, since a number of Civil War battles were fought in grain fields.
What subjects had Winslow Homer been sketching for the past few years? He had been sketching Civil War soldiers.
What does a figure carrying a scythe usually symbolize? He symbolizes the grim reaper or death.
Whose deaths might Homer be alluding to? He is alluding to dead soldiers and/or President Lincoln, who had been assassinated earlier that year. Previously, the veteran cut down soldiers in a field; now he cuts wheat.
What might a bountiful field of wheat represent? Hope, bounty, and the renewal of life.
Because a seemingly dead seed buried in the ground rises as a new plant, grain can be a symbol of rebirth or new beginnings. What might this suggest about the country after the Civil War? It could suggest that the country will recover and flourish.
Other works...
Croquet Scene, 1866 Oil on canvas; 15 7/8 x 26 1/8 in. (40.3 x 66.2 cm)
Croquet, a fad in the United States by the mid-1860s, was appreciated as a healthful outdoor activity that invited men and women to compete on equal terms as well as to visit and flirt with one another. Here, a man observes the expected courtesies by assisting his female companions in the game. He is sandwiched between two of them, who wear stylish dresses brightly colored in a patriotic palette and tower over him. Homer's apparently pleasant afternoon of play also implies the uncertain terrain of relationships between American men and women. At this time, women were evaluating the choice between their traditional roles as wives and mothers and their new opportunities for education and employment that emerged following the loss of so many men in the Civil War, growing urbanization and industrialization, and the burgeoning women's movement.
Snap the Whip, 1872 Oil on canvas; 12 x 20 in. (30.5 x 50.8 cm)
Children embodied innocence and the promise of America's future and were depicted by many artists and writers during the 1870s. Here, Homer reminisces about rural simplicity and reflects on the challenges of the complex post–Civil War world. Released from the confines of a one-room schoolhouse, exuberant boys engage in a spirited game. As the population shifted to cities and the little red schoolhouse faded from memory, this image would have evoked nostalgia for the nation's agrarian past. The boys' bare feet signal childhood's freedom, but their suspenders are associated with manhood's responsibilities. Their game, which requires teamwork, strength, and calculation, may allude to the reunited nation. Observed from right to left, Homer's boys hang on to one another, strain to stay connected, run in perfect harmony, and fall away, enacting all the possible scenarios for men after the Civil War.
Pitching Quoits, 1865 Oil on canvas; 26 3/4 x 53 3/4 in. (68 x 136.5 cm)
While photographers documented the Civil War's carnage and some artists depicted its battles, Homer primarily chronicled camp life. Having worked in oil for barely two years, he painted Pitching Quoits, his most ambitious war scene, soon after returning from a difficult visit to Virginia. Surrounding an expanse of hard-packed campground are groups of soldiers who were known as courageous special fighters with New York City ties. These men had ordered picturesque red uniforms designed after those worn by the Zouaves, Berber tribesmen who had fought with the French in the Crimean War ten years earlier. With downward or disengaged stares, Homer's Zouaves seem psychologically isolated from one another and detached from any apparent narrative, which makes the painting's true subject the boredom of time spent between battles. Avoiding overt references to combat or lost lives, Homer may also have provided to those at home a comforting connection to their loved ones' daily experiences.
Here is a link to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website, which has an incredible exhibit online right now called "American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life, 1765 - 1915". You'll find a lot of paintings by Winslow Homer, John Singleton Copely (2a), George Caleb Bingham (7b), as well as Thomas Eakins, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, and Mary Cassatt, who we'll study soon.
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