Winslow Homer
(Boston, Massachusetts, 2/24/1836 - 9/29/1910, Prout's Neck, Maine)
Title
Man with Scythe
Creation Date
1879
Century
late 19th century
Dimensions
10 in. x 12 1/2 in. (25.4 cm. x 31.75 cm.)
Object Type
drawing
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
graphite and charcoal on paper
Credit Line
Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, Gift of Shorey M. Armstrong
Copyright
Public Domain
Accession Number
1991.44
The aftermath of the American Civil War was a period of mourning and renewal mixed with uncertainty. As a wartime illustrator for Harper’s Weekly, Winslow Homer had been an eyewitness of the ordeal. Among his most moving motifs of the postwar era was the figure of the reaper wielding a scythe. The paradoxical interpretation of that figure as signifying mortality and abundance, death and life, would have been understood by many audiences. A celebrated painter, Homer was also one of the most accomplished draughtsmen of his age. The Bowdoin College Museum of Art takes pride in serving as the custodian of the Winslow Homer Archival Collection.
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