The Addison's collection numbers over 20,000 objects. While the galleries can only accommodate a fraction of the collection, virtually the entire collection is accessible through the Museum Learning Center.

Placeholder Text

Click here to download Museum Learning Center Portfolio Guides.

Collection

Director's Choice: A Fresh Look at Winslow Homer

<<first <previous
next> last>>


View larger image
Bookmark and Share
Artist(s): Winslow Homer (Boston, MA, Feb 24, 1836 - Sep 29, 1910, Prout's Neck, Scarboro, ME)
Title: The Army of the Potomac - A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty from Harper's Weekly, November 15, 1862
Date: 1862
Dimensions: 9 1/8 in. x 13 3/4 in. (23.18 cm x 34.93 cm)
Medium: Wood engraving on wove paper
Credit Line: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, Purchased as the gift of Warren P. Snyder (PA 1936), 1990.6

This object is a member of the following groups (click any group name to view all objects in that group):

Exhibitions: Man Up! Visualizing Masculinity in 19th-Century America
Periods and Styles: MLC Portfolio: Civil War
Themes: Gender
Themes: MLC Portfolio: Images and the Media
Artists: Winslow Homer

Object Information

In 1861, Hiram Berdan of New York recruited and trained the first unit of
Union sharpshooters. Required to place ten shots within five inches
of a bull’s-eye at 200 yards with a Sharps rifle, sharpshooters were first
employed by the Union during the peninsular campaign, a major operation
launched in southeasternVirginia from March through July of 1862.
Here, Winslow Homer portrays an isolated sharpshooter perched in a
tree aiming at a distant target. This dramatic illustration highlights
the power and efficiency of this new military tactic while suggesting a
compelling narrative beyond the image’s frame. Homer later reflected on
sharpshooters in a letter to friend George G. Briggs on 19 February 1896:
“I looked through one of their rifles once when they were in a peach
orchard in front of Yorktown in April 1862—.... I was not a soldier—but a
camp follower & artist, the above impression struck me as being as near
murder as anything I ever could think of in connection with the army & I
always had a horror of that branch of service.”

Exhibition History

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

Winslow Homer at the Addison, Addison Gallery of American Art, 4/12/1990 - 7/31/1990
Director's Choice: A Fresh Look at Winslow Homer, Addison Gallery of American Art, 9/7/2004 - 2/27/2005
From the Front Line, Addison Gallery of American Art, 1/9/2007 - 4/15/2007
The Civil War: Unfolding Dialogues, Addison Gallery of American Art, 10/15/2011 - 4/15/2012
Stone, Wood, Metal, Mesh: Prints and Printmaking, Addison Gallery of American Art, 1/19/2013 - 3/17/2013
Man Up! Visualizing Masculinity in 19th-Century America, Addison Gallery of American Art, 12/21/2019 - 4/5/2020

Your current search criteria is: Exhibition is "Director's Choice: A Fresh Look at Winslow Homer"