ROSLYN HARBOR, NY.- Works depicting scenes that span more than two decades of American life (1857-1878) are seen in Winslow Homer: Illustrating America, an exhibition opening on January 18 at
Nassau County Museum of Art (NCMA). Featuring more than 100 prints from illustrated weeklies and journals, this exhibition was organized by Marilyn Kushner of the Brooklyn Museum with support from National Endowment for the Arts as part of American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius.
Winslow Homers woodcuts, made first for Harpers Weekly and other periodicals, became the basis for the artists early fame. One of the most important figures in early American Art, Homer was born in Boston in 1836. He worked as an illustrator for many of the most prestigious publications of his day, among them Harpers which employed him to chronicle the Civil Way. In 1866, Homer became a member of the National Academy of Design. He made several trips to Europe, between which he lived in New York. Homer eventually settled in a coastal village in Maine, finding both solitude and artistic inspiration in the dramatic land- and seascapes of Maine.