Winslow Homer American landscape painter Art Oil Painting

Winslow Homer, considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in American art, and largely self-taught, Winslow Homer began his career working as a commercial illustrator. He subsequently took up Homer oil painting and produced major studio works characterized by the weight and density he exploited from the medium.

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. Robert Henri called Homer's oil painting an "integrity of nature."