Winslow Homer's 'Prisoners from the Front'
| Autor: | Charles Colbert |
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| Rok vydání: | 1998 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | American Art. 12:66-69 |
| ISSN: | 1549-6503 1073-9300 |
| DOI: | 10.1086/424321 |
| Popis: | Winslow Homer's Prisoners from the Front represents the culmination of his efforts to come to terms with the momentous events associated with the Civil War (fig. 1). It depicts the interrogation of three Confederates by a Union officer, identified as General Francis Channing Barlow, and, to some extent, celebrates Barlow's heroic capture of several thousand southern troops at Spotsylvania, Virginia. Homer, however, seemed to have had another agenda as well, for the source of the conflict is suggested in the diverse temperamental dispositions of the participants. Much of the commentary devoted to this work has distinguished the sober bearing of Barlow from the attitudes assumed by those he surveys. Particular attention has been paid to the long-haired officer, whose confrontational demeanor contrasts with the reserve of his captor, establishing a dichotomy between the cavalier and the puritan, the southern aristocrat and the Yankee capitalist. This approach, which was pursued initially by the artist's contemporaries, has much to commend it,1 but it largely neglected a third fig- ure-the ragged captive on the far left. The narrative involving this rawboned youth extends beyond his appearance in this scene, and in recounting it we come to a more comprehensive understanding of Homer's imagery. This figure has not fared well among the few critics who have deigned to notice him. Described as belonging to the class of poor whites who were drawn into the conflict against their better interests, he is disparaged as being a "corn-cracker," one unable to resist the "magnetism" of his superiors. But he must have meant something more to Homer, for the artist made him the protagonist of Defiance: Inviting a Shot Before Petersburg (fig. 2).2 Here, he stands on top of the earthworks to hector the enemy at risk of life and limb. What does this seemingly futile act tell us about his character and, more significantly, about Homer's intentions? Viewed in the context of Civil War battle tactics, the young soldier's defiant act is not |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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