Snap the Whip explained

Snap the Whip
Artist:	Winslow Homer
Year:	1872
Medium:	Oil on canvas
Height Metric:	56
Width Metric:	91.4
City:	Youngstown, Ohio
Museum:	Butler Institute of American Art

Snap the Whip is an 1872 oil painting by the American artist Winslow Homer.^[1] It depicts a group of children playing crack the whip in a field in front of a small red schoolhouse. With more of America's population moving to cities, the portrait depicts the simplicity of rural agrarian life that Americans were beginning to leave behind in the post-Civil War era,^[2] evoking a mood of nostalgia.

Homer spent several summers in New York's Hudson Valley, and is said to have been inspired to paint this scene by local boys playing at the Hurley schoolhouse.^{[3] [4]} Homer painted a second version, of similar date, which is now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In this, he retains the schoolhouse but the background hillscape is removed, making the location less regionally specific.^[5]

External links

• Snap the Whip on the Butler Museum of Art homepage.
• Snap the Whip Analysis of 'Snap the Whip'.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Butler Institute of American Art. Winslow Homer 1836. 2014-07-25. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20150301172422/http://www.butlerart.com/pc_book/pages/winslow_homer_1836.htm. 2015-03-01.
2. Web site: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Winslow Homer: Snap the Whip. 2014-07-25.
3. Web site: WINSLOW HOMER AND HOUGHTON FARM. hamiltonauctiongalleries.com. 2016-07-12. 2016-09-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20160905151213/http://www.hamiltonauctiongalleries.com/houghton-farm.htm. dead.
4. Web site: The rose discarded – A plaque along the rail trail running parallel to Route 209 in Hurley notes how the great American artist Winslow Homer spent a series of summers in the 1870s sketching and painting in our area. In the nearby hamlet out in the.... 2016-07-12.
5. Web site: Winslow Homer Snap the Whip American The Metropolitan Museum of Art.