Winslow Homer: An American Original
From Devine Entertainment Specials · 1999
Summary
Winslow Homer earns early fame drawing the American Civil War for Harper's Weekly, praised for showing it honestly rather than glamorously. Worn down by what he witnessed, he leaves the battlefield for a quiet country farm, where painting children, fields, and eventually the sea helps him find his own voice as a truly American artist. The story is told partly through a young girl on the farm.
Viewer safety
Homer worked as a Civil War illustrator and the film touches on how the war troubled him — the tone is reflective rather than graphic, but preview if your class is sensitive to war themes.
Our rating is a quick teacher-to-teacher guide — preview before showing.
Teaching resources
Discussion questions
A war illustrator, shaken by what he saw, finds peace and a new style painting the countryside and the sea.
- Homer drew the Civil War "honestly" instead of making it look grand. Why does honesty matter in art?
- After the war he painted calm scenes of farms and the ocean. How can making art help someone feel better?
- What is it about the sea that an artist might spend a whole life trying to paint?
- When you've felt worn out, what place or activity helps you feel like yourself again?
Quick work-a-long
Words to know: illustrator, honest, landscape, seascape
- Picture a place that makes you calm. List three things you'd put in a painting of it.
- Homer painted the sea many times. Choose two words that describe how the ocean looks and moves.