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Homer learned the fundamentals of draftsmanship at the age of eighteen as an apprentice to the Boston lithographer John H. Bufford. Two years later, in 1857, he established himself as a freelance illustrator, creating original engraving compositions for Ballou’s Pictorial Drawing Room Companion and Harper’s Weekly. Homer’s role in the production of the prints was to draw the image on a block of boxwood. Engravers then carved away everything but the lines drawn on the block, using crosshatching to convey shade and modeling. Finally, the engravers inked the block to produce the print. [1]
Even at such a young age, with little formal art instruction, Homer displayed his skill at composition, creating dynamic and well-balanced images that foreshadow his later masterpieces in oil and watercolor. He even experimented with composite images, in which multiple vignettes are combined to create a rich and full narrative.
Published in Harper’s Weekly on December 24, 1859, just after Homer moved from Boston to New York, A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year is one of Homer’s composite prints. The engraving combines four separate vignettes. In the center roundel, the artist renders “The Origin of Christmas,” with the shepherds adoring the infant Jesus in the stable at Bethlehem. [2] In the upper left corner, he depicts “5th Avenue,” where horses pull a fine carriage down a grand street. Homer contrasts this scene of wealth and privilege with “59th Street” in the upper right corner; a youth in a sled pulled by goats calls out to a woman standing in front of a dilapidated cottage. [3] In “A Children’s Christmas Party” in the lower half, beautifully-dressed and well-behaved children dance, converse, and comport themselves like miniature adults under the watchful eyes of their elders. Homer unites these disparate scenes with holly-garland borders, suggesting perhaps that people of all ages and stations share the joy of Christmas.
The engraving at Reynolda House bears a curious alteration. In the center roundel, where other versions of the print show a wreath, Reynolda’s print shows the head of a young girl looking over her shoulder at the viewer. It appears that a snippet of another print has been pasted over the original image. The origin and reason behind this alteration are unknown.
Notes:
[1] David Tatham, Winslow Homer and the Pictorial Press (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2003), 14.
[2] William Howe Downes, The Life and Works of Winslow Homer. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1911), 37.
[3] Tatham, Winslow Homer, 90.
ProvenanceJoseph R. and Mary Myers, Tyro, NC [1]
Notes:
[1] Loan Agreement, object file.
Exhibition History2010
Virtue, Vice, Wisdom & Folly: The Moralizing Tradition in American Art
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (9/18/2010-12/31/2010)
Published ReferencesGellman, Barbara, ed. The Wood Engravings of Winslow Homer. New York: Bounty Books, 1969: 34, 200.
Cross, William R., Winslow Homer: American Passage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022: pg. 43.
DepartmentAmerican Art
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Artist
Winslow Homer
(1836 - 1910)
Date1859
Mediumwood engraving
DimensionsFrame: 23 3/16 x 29 in. (58.9 x 73.7 cm)
Paper: 15 1/2 x 21 1/2 in. (39.4 x 54.6 cm)
Image: 14 1/8 x 20 1/2 in. (35.9 x 52.1 cm)
SignedW Homer DEL
Credit LineCourtesy of Joseph and Mary Myers in honor of Nicholas B. Bragg
CopyrightPublic Domain
Object number2000.2.1.c
DescriptionWinslow Homer is revered today both for the powerful and dramatic images he created as well as for his enormous technical skill in watercolor and oil. But it was another medium, engraving, in which the artist first revealed his talents.Homer learned the fundamentals of draftsmanship at the age of eighteen as an apprentice to the Boston lithographer John H. Bufford. Two years later, in 1857, he established himself as a freelance illustrator, creating original engraving compositions for Ballou’s Pictorial Drawing Room Companion and Harper’s Weekly. Homer’s role in the production of the prints was to draw the image on a block of boxwood. Engravers then carved away everything but the lines drawn on the block, using crosshatching to convey shade and modeling. Finally, the engravers inked the block to produce the print. [1]
Even at such a young age, with little formal art instruction, Homer displayed his skill at composition, creating dynamic and well-balanced images that foreshadow his later masterpieces in oil and watercolor. He even experimented with composite images, in which multiple vignettes are combined to create a rich and full narrative.
Published in Harper’s Weekly on December 24, 1859, just after Homer moved from Boston to New York, A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year is one of Homer’s composite prints. The engraving combines four separate vignettes. In the center roundel, the artist renders “The Origin of Christmas,” with the shepherds adoring the infant Jesus in the stable at Bethlehem. [2] In the upper left corner, he depicts “5th Avenue,” where horses pull a fine carriage down a grand street. Homer contrasts this scene of wealth and privilege with “59th Street” in the upper right corner; a youth in a sled pulled by goats calls out to a woman standing in front of a dilapidated cottage. [3] In “A Children’s Christmas Party” in the lower half, beautifully-dressed and well-behaved children dance, converse, and comport themselves like miniature adults under the watchful eyes of their elders. Homer unites these disparate scenes with holly-garland borders, suggesting perhaps that people of all ages and stations share the joy of Christmas.
The engraving at Reynolda House bears a curious alteration. In the center roundel, where other versions of the print show a wreath, Reynolda’s print shows the head of a young girl looking over her shoulder at the viewer. It appears that a snippet of another print has been pasted over the original image. The origin and reason behind this alteration are unknown.
Notes:
[1] David Tatham, Winslow Homer and the Pictorial Press (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2003), 14.
[2] William Howe Downes, The Life and Works of Winslow Homer. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1911), 37.
[3] Tatham, Winslow Homer, 90.
ProvenanceJoseph R. and Mary Myers, Tyro, NC [1]
Notes:
[1] Loan Agreement, object file.
Exhibition History2010
Virtue, Vice, Wisdom & Folly: The Moralizing Tradition in American Art
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (9/18/2010-12/31/2010)
Published ReferencesGellman, Barbara, ed. The Wood Engravings of Winslow Homer. New York: Bounty Books, 1969: 34, 200.
Cross, William R., Winslow Homer: American Passage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022: pg. 43.
Status
Not on view