Winslow Homer Wood Engravings
The Shirley W. Brand Collection

March 2, 2024 through May 12, 2024

The Arkell Museum was recently gifted a transformative collection of Winslow Homer wood engravings. Winslow Homer Wood Engravings: The Shirley W. Brand Collection is the first time a selection of these extraordinary wood engravings will be on view here at the Arkell Museum. We are so grateful to the family of Shirley W. Brand for this incredible gift.

Winslow Homer began his career as an art illustrator in the late 1850s, creating images for popular publications including Ballou’s Pictorial and Harper’s Weekly. He served as a wartime correspondent for Harper’s Weekly, capturing important battle, camp, and community scenes during the Civil War. Homer also excelled at depicting scenes from everyday life: farm fields, city streets, windy beach bluffs, factory workers, fishing parties.

This exhibition features some of Homer’s most famous and recognizable images such as The Dinner Horn and The Noon Recess as well as images that may be lesser known but are equally stunning and engaging. Image themes presented in this first sampling include Agriculture, Work, Entertainment, the Civil War, and Social Commentary.

This exhibition is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

Winslow Homer (1836-1910)
The Morning Bell
Wood engraving on paper
Harper’s Weekly; December 13, 1873
Arkell Museum Collection
Gift of the family of Shirley W. Brand, 2020