Happy Fourth
July 4, 2013
Snap the Whip, Winslow Homer, 1872
— Comments —
Buck writes:
Happy Fourth and thanks again. I haven’t recalled playing “snap the whip” for more than half-a-century. What a great game (along with king of the hill and blood and guts). The risks, strategies and physical challenges of that simple game did a lot to educate a boy about himself and his peers, more than is permitted today. I’m sure few young men have ever heard of it.
My late acculturation, instigated largely by your deft postings, has taken root. Every time you post a Homer Winslow, I’m instantly drawn in. He never fails to uncover some buried memory and feeling. I remember saying to my son’s mother, several years before we divorced – which got me a rare look of her agreement – that I was born a century too late. I’ve always felt that way. I find a home in Winslow Homer’s paintings.
Laura writes:
I love this painting. I wish this was a better reproduction of it.
It is obviously set in the Adirondacks, where Homer lived at the time, and was originally an illustration for Harper’s Weekly. Not many artists capture children at play as realistically as Homer does.
