The Croquet Players
1866
Medium
Conté crayon, on tan wove paper
Dimensions
11 1/2 x 10 1/8 in. (29.2 x 25.7 cm)
Classification
Drawing
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Fletcher Fund, 1937
Accession Number
37.98
Tags
Art Historical Context
Winslow Homer's *The Croquet Players*1866) captures a moment of leisurely recreation in post-Civil War, a time when the nation sought normalcy amid reconstruction. Created just after the war's end, this intimate drawing reflects Homer's growing fascination with everyday American life shifting from his earlier battlefield illustrations to vibrant genre scenes. Croquet, a fashionable outdoor game introduced to the U.S. in the 1860s, symbolized emerging middle-class leisure and social mingling between men and women, as hinted by the artwork's tags. Rendered in conté crayon on tan wove paper—a me...
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...