The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 25, 2022

The Brierwood Pipe

1864

Winslow Homer

(American, 1836-1910)

America, 19th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 68.9 x 64.1 x 9.2 cm (27 1/8 x 25 1/4 x 3 5/8 in.); Unframed: 42.8 x 37.5 cm (16 7/8 x 14 3/4 in.); Former: 69 x 64 x 8 cm (27 3/16 x 25 3/16 x 3 1/8 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1944.524

Location

207 American Realism

Fun Fact

During the Civil War, Homer worked as an artist-reporter for the New York newspaper <em>Harper's Weekly</em>.

Description

Homer’s subject was inspired by a sentimental poem popular at the time, in which a Civil War soldier carves a wooden pipe and daydreams of the time when the conflict will end so that he can return home. The painting depicts two volunteers for the Union Army who sport their regiment’s highly colorful uniforms, a design soon discovered as impractical due to its ability to be spotted by sharpshooters. The museum acquired this work during World War II. It seems likely that the painting’s imagery was viewed as especially significant for its wartime audience.

Inscriptions

Inscription

signed lower left: Homer 64

Provenance
1944-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
Probably 1940-1944
Mrs. Z. Boylston Adams (Helen Foster), Brookline, MA, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1915 - probably 1940
Zabdiel Boylston Adams [1875-1940], Brookline, MA, to his wife, Mrs. Z. Boylston Adams1 1
1881-1915
Annie Adams Fields (Mrs. James T. Fields) [1834-1915], Boston, MA, by bequest to her nephew, Zabdiel Boylston Adams
-1881
James Thomas Fields [1817-1881], Boston, MA

Provenance Footnotes

1 1The exact mode of transfer and date of this painting from Mr. to Mrs. Boylston Adams are unknown, but she likely received it upon his death in 1940.
Citations
Marr, Timothy. "The American Zouave." Military Images 34, no. 4. 22-29 Reproduced: 22-23, 27.
Goodrich, Lloyd, and Abigail Booth Gerdts. Record of Works by Winslow Homer. 2005.
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 543 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 187 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 187 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 231 archive.org
Exhibition history

New York, Dodworth's Studio Building, Fourth Artists' Reception (before 25 March 1864); see Winslow Homer: The Paintings of the Civil War p. 21.

New York, National Academy of Design, Thirty-ninth Annual Exhibition (April, 1864), no. 140, listed p. 451.

Worcester, Worcester Art Museum, Winslow Homer (16 November-17 December 1944), no. 2.

Oxford, OH, Miami University, Sesquicentennial Celebration (15 May-15 June 1959).

Washington, D.C., The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Civil War: The Artists' Record (18 November-31 December 1961); traveled to Boston, The Museum of Fine Arts (1 February-4 March 1962); pp. 63-64, illus. no. 46, p. 66.

San Fransisco, The Fine Arts Museum of San Fransisco, Winslow Homer: Paintings of the Civil War (2 July-18 September 1988); traveled to Portland, Portland Museum of Art (8 October-18 December 1988); cat. no. 8, fig. 8.1, pp. 166-172; also included references to CMA painting pp. 21, 72-73, 111-112, 115, 119, 161, 195-196, 208-215, 236.

Washington, D.C., The National Gallery of Art, Winslow Homer (15 October 1995-28 January 1996); traveled to Boston, Museum of Fine Arts (21 February-26 May 1996); New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (20 June-22 September 1996); illus. no. 3, pg. 43.

Exhibition of the Month: Atmospheric Depth in Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-March 31, 1947).

35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951).

Winslow Homer: Portrait of America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 10, 1965-May 16, 1966).

Winslow Homer. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (October 15, 1995-January 28, 1996); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, MA (February 21-May 26, 1996).

The Civil War and American Art. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC (organizer) (November 16, 2012-April 27, 2013); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (May 21-September 2, 2013).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1944.524