The School Mistress

Artist Winslow Homer American, 1836–1910

Dateabout 1870

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionscanvas: 47.6 x 39.7 cm (18 3/4 x 15 5/8 in.)
frame: 61 x 53.3 cm (24 x 21 in.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of Dr. and Mrs. Roger Kinnicutt

Terms

Object number1946.9

Label TextThis painting is one of a number that Homer painted of schoolteachers, classrooms, and children playing near schoolhouses. After the Civil War, teaching became a predominantly female occupation for the first time. In one article published in the popular serial Harper's Weekly, this new national type was characterized as one who is "usually young, modest, timid, yet [who] controls with a natural and acquired skill the throng of children by whom she is encircled." Homer's frontal pose of the figure in this small oil painting captures the dual sense of ability and vulnerability described by the Harper's writer.

Winslow Homer was trained as a lithographer in Boston in the mid-1850s. This training helped Homer to become one of the most successful illustrators of his day, contributing Civil War scenes and later, travel images to popular magazines. Homer created some of the most profound American paintings and watercolors of rural life, landscapes of the New England coast, and life at sea.ProvenanceDr. and Mrs. Roger Kinnicutt, Worcester, MA

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