Collection
Director's Choice: A Fresh Look at Winslow Homer
-
» Text List » Image & Label » Description record 18 of 20
![]() View larger image | ||||||||||||||||||
|
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 AmericaPeriods 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 - 7/31/1990Director'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"