← Winslow Homer

Skating on the Ladies' Skating Pond in Central Park, New York (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. IV)

Original title: Skating on the Ladies' Skating Pond in Central Park, New York (from "Harper's Weekly," Vol. IV)

Artist

Winslow Homer

Date

January 28, 1860

Medium

Wood engraving

Dimensions

image: 13 3/4 x 20 3/16 in. (34.9 x 51.2 cm) sheet: 16 1/16 x 21 15/16 in. (40.8 x 55.8 cm)

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1928

kurzbeschreibung

Winslow Homer's wood engraving appeared in Harper's Weekly on January 28, 1860, bringing before readers a busy skating scene on the Ladies' Skating Pond in Central Park. The print records how New York society spent its winter leisure in the nineteenth century.

Description

Across the frozen pond move numerous figures, while others watch from the shore. The people wear nineteenth-century dress: hats and coats on some, long skirts on others. A hill behind them is populated with more figures, adding further life to the view. The arrangement feels animated, with figures moving in various directions, and the linework relies on fine shading.

Context

The Ladies' Skating Pond was among the first areas in Central Park set aside specifically for women, after the park opened in 1857. In the late 1850s Homer contributed as a freelance illustrator to Harper's Weekly, recording scenes of everyday New York life. That the subject appeared in January 1860 points to the popularity of skating as a social event at the time.

Impact

The print radiates the atmosphere of winter sociability and draws the viewer into the activity on the ice. Precise linework and the multitude of figures create a narrative density that invites close study of the image.

Technique

Lines and hatching were cut into a woodblock and used for printing. The black-and-white rendering works with precise strokes and fine hatching to build texture and spatial depth.

AI-generated description text

Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)