Winslow Homer: One Country, Two Sides to a Story

Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was an American painter that was skilled in portraying works with an unbiased eye so that it appealed to both sides of a story.

His most famous works are of the paintings that he created with Civil War scenes. One of his earlier works (on the right), The Sharpshooter on Picket Duty 1862 reveals a Union sniper aiming to what we assume is his next Confederate target. This one of the most important Civil War pieces for it illuminates what the war actually was, Americans killing Americans. This had a deep impact within the society for it brought forth noting the horrors of the war and forced them to acknowledge that they are killing their own people. Homer too was affected deeply by this stating, "[the sketch] struck me as being as near murder as anything I could ever think of..." (Winslow Homer: Civil War Sharpshooter) In this particular piece he is demonstrating that there is not "two sides" to this story but only one side for we are all Americans.

Another Civil War piece by Homer (left), Prisoners from the Front, depicts captured Confederate soldiers by the Union soldiers. Well that is what we can tell, but if we look closely to the body language of the figures, maybe "captured" is the wrong term. Here, Homer is appealing to both Northerners and Southerners by the mere means of the body language of the men. The Union soldier in the front stands tall and is a dominating force of the work, but the Confederate soldier in front is a near mirror of posture. Interpreted by a Northerner one would think "well done soldier, taking prisoners of war," while an interpretation by a Southerner could very well be "well done soldier, you may be captured but you hold your beliefs and dignity." (Winslow Homer...)

By bringing to attention that we are all Americans and appealing to the two sides of the story Winslow Homer is able to connect to the country as a whole. Though the North and South was still very different after the war, each side could still appreciate Winslow's work almost in a means of unison.