At the Spring: Saratoga (Hearth and Home, Vol. I)
Original title: At the Spring: Saratoga (Hearth and Home, Vol. I)
kurzbeschreibung
Winslow Homer's 1869 wood engraving "At the Spring: Saratoga" presents fashionable society at a summer resort. Everything stays in black and white: ladies in elaborate dresses and a gentleman in the foreground, with arcades and open countryside behind them.
Description
Several women in long dresses trimmed with bows and lace stand talking, a few of them holding parasols. A gentleman in a suit and top hat turns toward one of them. Behind the group rises a building with an arcade, and beyond it trees and a hill. A small framed picture at the top shows a rural scene with a house and plants. The engraving works entirely in black and white, and its linear structure stays clearly visible.
Context
Made on August 28, 1869, the print appeared in "Hearth and Home," a family magazine widely read at the time. During the 1860s Homer supplied illustrations to various periodicals regularly before painting became more important to him. Saratoga Springs was a well-known resort, and the subject captures the social life of America's upper class after the Civil War.
Impact
Clearly organized and rich in detail in both dress and architecture, the sheet feels elegant and lively at once. The fashionable company in front and the quiet landscape behind set up a tension that makes the calm of a summer holiday palpable.
Technique
For printing, the design was cut into a woodblock and then pulled onto paper. Fine lines and hatching produce graded grays and give figures and architecture a sense of depth. The image area measures roughly 23.2 x 21.6 cm, the sheet 38.2 x 27.2 cm.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)