Seesaw—Gloucester, Massachusetts
published September 12, 1874
Medium
Wood engraving on buff wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 23.2 × 34.9 cm (9 3/16 × 13 3/4 in.); Sheet: 28.9 × 40.9 cm (11 7/16 × 16 1/8 in.)
Classification
wood engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
158255
Art Historical Context
Winslow Homer's *Seesaw—Gl, Massachusetts*, published on September 12, 4, captures a joyful moment of childhood play along the rugged New England coast. The wood engraving depicts children balancing on a makeshift seesaw amid the fishing village of Gloucester, reflecting Homer's keen eye for everyday American life. As a leading figure in American Realism, Homer often drew from his summers in coastal towns, blending candid observation with a sense of unspoiled vitality in post-Civil War America. work exemplifies the wood engraving medium, a precise technique where artists incised fine lines i...
About the Artist
Winslow Homer · 1836–1910
Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was one of America's greatest painters and a preeminent figure in 19th-century American art. Largely self-taught, Homer began his career as a commercial illustrator and Civil War correspondent for Harper's Weekly before becoming renowned for his powerful marine subjects and landscape paintings. His mastery of both oil and watercolor, combined with his uncompromising reali...