Winslow Homer, an American landscape painter and printmaker, was known as the foremost and preeminent painter in the history of American art. He was largely self-taught painter, who began his career as an apprentice with a Boston lithographer. Homer’s gift in oil paintings made his mother try to send him to Europe for further study, but instead Harper’s, the magazine he illustrated for, sent him to the front lines of the American Civil War, where he made paintings under battle scenes and camp life. After war, he turned his attention to reflect nostalgia by using scenes of childhood and young women.
His Boys in a Pasture depicts two boys having rest in a pasture, tranquil and harmonious which was a landmark in American countryside. Various grass flourish in the broad and endless land. Few greenish trees stood far away from the boys. The two boys with their brown and yellowish brown bonnet sat freely, facing the distance like missing their families and homes and reminiscent of their childhood.
Homer’s Boys in a Pasture was showed as the newest set of the American Treasure Stamp by American Postal Service, the largest business company wholly owned by the Federal Government. The first day release of this masterpiece was held in American Philatelic Society Stamp Show 2010. After Breezing Up and The Fog Warning in 1962 and 1998 respectively, this was the third time that Homer’s paintings appeared in American stamps. With the release of this new type of 44 cents stamps, there comes a feeling of nostalgia.
Boys in a Pasture
