WINSLOW HOMER (1836-1910)
Burnt Mountain (2,893 m - 9,492 ft)
United States of America (Wyoming)
In Burnt Mountain, 1902, watercolor
Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
The mountain
Burnt Mountain (2,893 m - 9,492 ft) in Wyoming (not to be confused with the numerous Burnt mountains existing in US (Adironcacks Georgia...) or around the world (Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, etc... ) is a small peak along the Medicine Wheel Passage in the north Big Horn Range. The mountain consists of a north-south ridge that is about a mile in length and has two summit areas; the grassy knoll that makes up the south summit is about 50 feet higher than the north one, which has some nice rock outcrops just below it.
This area is thick with elk and deer, and black bears roam through here as well. The best time to hike this area is in late June or early July just after the snow has melted; the wildflowers are plentiful and the grass is a very rich and beautiful deep green. Summit views include many of the other gentle mountains in the vicinity, including Bald and Little Bald Mountains, Medicine Mountain, Duncum Mountain, and distant views of the Cloud Peak area.
The artist
Winslow Homer was a major American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in American art.
Largely self-taught, Homer began his career working as a commercial illustrator. He subsequently took up oil painting and produced major studio works characterized by the weight and density he exploited from the medium. He also worked extensively in watercolor, creating a fluid and prolific oeuvre, primarily chronicling his working vacations.
Homer never taught in a school or privately, as did Thomas Eakins, but his works strongly influenced succeeding generations of American painters for their direct and energetic interpretation of man's stoic relationship to an often neutral and sometimes harsh wilderness.
American illustrator and teacher Howard Pyle revered Homer and encouraged his students to study him. His student and fellow illustrator, N. C. Wyeth (and through him Andrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth), shared the influence and appreciation, even following Homer to Maine for inspiration. The elder Wyeth's respect for his antecedent was "intense and absolute" and can be observed in his early work Mowing (1907). Perhaps Homer's austere individualism is best captured in his admonition to artists: "Look at nature, work independently, and solve your own problems."
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
