Winslow Homer

American Passage

De: William R. Cross

Narrado por: Traber Burns

In this compelling biography, William R. Cross chronicles the life story of the great painter and illustrator Winslow Homer, who captured America in the crucible of the Civil War and contributed to shaping American identity to this day.

In 1860, at the age of twenty-four, Winslow Homer (1836-1910) sold Harper’s two dozen wood engravings, carved into boxwood and transferred to metal plates to stamp on paper. One was a scene that Homer saw in his hometown of Boston, showing Frederick Douglass speaking about freedom and a crowd of abolitionists being thrown from a church; at their front is Frederick Douglass, declaring “the freedom of all mankind.” He is at the heart of the image, face turned skyward and right arm reaching out like a Roman orator.

Homer, born into the Panic of 1837 and raised in the years before the Civil War, came of age in a nation in crisis. Nonetheless, he spent his life capturing scenes that were distinctively, quintessentially American. Whether in pencil, watercolor, or oil, Homer addressed the hopes and fears of his fellow Americans and invited his viewers into stories embedded with universal, timeless questions of purpose and meaning.

Like his contemporary Mark Twain and Walt Whitman, the American everyman, Homer captured the landscape of a rapidly changing country with an artist’s probing insight. His is the story of America in all its complexity and contradiction, as he evolved his style and adapted to the restless spirit of new invention transforming his world. In Winslow Homer: American Passage, William R. Cross, a deeply insightful scholar and curator of Homer’s work, reveals the man behind the images: the life, led on the front lines of American history, that enabled Homer to create pivotal monuments of American culture.

©2022 William R. Cross (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Epic and Informative

I really enjoyed this bio of Homer and was especially enamored of the moments where Cross describes and then analyzes the the structures of the artist’s paintings. Nice job! Especially since one cannot “see” them in the aural text.

Thorough biography!

Well narrated, in-depth biography of the life and work of a favorite artist! Well worth a listen.

Seeing with Truth

This book and also having been the the Homer exhibition at the Met in NY adds such depth to the Winslow Homer experience. So very timely for our present and amazing for all time. Winslow Homer holds his uniquie place in American art. He lands well after the Hudson River school and before Sargent. Great read and or listen.

The Best for Art Lovers

Winslow Homer is one of my top ten favorite Artists of all time. I really wanted to know ow more about his life and books. I read the reviews and some were good and some were bad and was on the fence about buying this one in audio book format. I decided even if the negative reviews right I would still learn some new nuggets of info about him so I took the gamble.

Excellent book. I learned about Homer’s family, life and journey and people he met and his major works throughout his career. As an Artist myself I found this book inspirational and therapeutic. A new bit of info I learned was that one of Homer’s paintings didn’t sell for twenty years!!! Crazy! If you listen to this book, doing an image search of the paintings discussed it will add to the experience.

If you are into Winslow Homer Art, Art History, The Civil War era to 1900’s I think you will love this book, and find in it nuggets of inspiration and truth to staying truth to doing the work and purpose in life. If you are an adrenaline junkie, using audio books to fill in gaps between trips to the gym and video game store- this book is not for you.

Detailed account of Homer's life

This book is a wealth of facts but it should have an accompanying pdf in order to view Homer's etchings and paintings mentioned throughout the book.

(1827 to 1906}

The born-died dates associated with most names really gets tedious after a while. Wasn't the readers fault and perhaps slows him down. Found myself wanting it to be over the last couple chapters.