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Charles Marvin Fairchild (SFS '48) Memorial
Gallery
July 6 · October 15, 2006
Home · Illustrations · Press
In celebration of these summer months,
Summertime Selections from Historic Harper's Weekly
presents a selection of nineteenth-century wood-engravings
from summer issues of Harper's Weekly, from the
Fine Print Collection in the Georgetown University Library's
Special Collections Division. These vivid illustrations
provide us with a fascinating glimpse of life in the
nineteenth century, and a visual panorama of American
culture and society that grows further distant as the
years unfold.
A New York publication, Harper's Weekly was issued
first in 1857, and gained wide circulation during the
Civil War. It continued to flourish as one of the preëminent
illustrated journals up until the 1920s, when it no longer
could compete with the Sunday supplements published by
rival newspapers. This time period represents the grand
era of American commercial wood engraving; however, the
growing availability of and improvements in photography
and photo-mechanical reproduction ensured its inevitable
demise.
Among the many talented artists who provided the original
drawings for the wood engravings were Thomas Nast, Edwin
Austen Abbey, Frederick Remington, and Winslow Homer.
The production of their illustrations involved a triumvirate
of designers, highly skilled wood engravers, and, of
course, the publishers who commissioned their work. The
process of transforming the drawing into a wood engraving
is described in detail in Adventures in America 1857-1900:
A Pictorial Record from Harper's Weekly (New York:
Harper & Brothers, 1938):
"... their pictures were either drawn directly
on, or transferred to, blocks of box-wood.
Skilled engravers then cut away all the wooden surface
not covered by lines
of the drawing, and the printing was
done from the resulting blocks. In order to accomplish
this lengthy process speedily
enough to issue the paper once a week,
a large staff of engravers was employed. Full-page
or double-page illustrations
were divided into sections each of which
might be engraved by a different man; after which the
small blocks were
locked together in a form, from which
the entire picture was printed as a unit."
Thus, it often is possible to observe the joints from
the joined blocks on some of the larger wood engravings.
Due to the exigencies and cost requirements of mass-production,
the wood blocks typically were shaved off after a run
was printed so that they could be re-cut with the new
designs for the next issue. Surprisingly, the many engravers
who contributed to the periodical, though integral to
its success, often were not recognized with a "by-line" or
credit near their work. This distinction more often was
reserved for a select group of artists who supplied the
original drawings.
This exhibition is augmented with a few comparable illustrations
from Appleton's Journal, a contemporaneous New
York periodical published between 1869 and 1881, which
employed several of the same artists and craftsmen as
Harper's. Wherever possible, we have excerpted
the text from the articles accompanying each of the wood
engravings; a handful of them, however, were published
as stand-alone illustrations with no text. One can view
any of these articles in their entirety, at www.Harpweek.com,
where there is a full run of this historic literary and
news journal, fully digitized and indexed to facilitate
searching.
May 30, 1885; p. 345
Parade of the New York Coaching Club,
May 23
Drawn by T. De Thulstrup (see page 347)
Wood engraving on paper
Excerpts from the entry on page 347: The Coaching Parade
"Of all the bright scenes one may see on Fifth
Avenue, none is more picturesque than the start of the
Coaching Club parade. A dozen or more coaches are drawn
up in line before the Hotel Brunswick. Around the entrances
to the building move the members, the men in white high
hats and long driving coats, with flowers in the button-holes,
the women in elaborate toilets of light color and texture,
adorned with massive, brilliant corsage bouquets. Club
men of horsy proclivities stand about to criticise the
horses and trappings. These are of the finest kind, for
the members indulge in generous rivalry in these matters, ... Club
men who care less for horses than for
humanity are out in force to study the beauty of the
ladies."
June 28, 1879; p. 504
Saturday Afternoon on the Harlem River
Drawn by C. A. Keetels (see page 507)
Wood engraving on paper
Excerpts from the entry on page 507: On the Harlem
"On page 504 we give a picture of the animated
scene that may be witnessed every
pleasant afternoon, during our long boating season,
on the Harlem River just
above the bridge. This part of the
river forms the practice course of various rowing clubs
of New York, and affords
also opportunity for every one to
row or sail who can command a shell or a sail-boat.
On the right of the picture
are the Atalanta and Columbia boat-houses,
in close neighborhood, and in the distance on the left
we catch a glimpse of
McComb's Dam Bridge. Boats of all
descriptions crowd the river whenever the weather is
pleasant, and
a more lively and attractive scene
can hardly be imagined."
June 8, 1867; p. 360
The Leow Bridge Across Broadway, at Fulton
Street, & the
New Herald Building
Photographed by Rockwood, 839 Broadway (see first page)
Wood engraving on paper
Excerpts from the entry on page 1: The Broadway Bridge
" The Leow Bridge across Broadway at Fulton
Street was thrown open to the
public on May 16. We give this week an
illustration of the structure, by
which the reader will obtain a clearer idea of its
proportions and appearance than could be conveyed
by mere description.
"Our engraving also gives us a view of the new
Herald Building, just finished
and lately occupied as the publication office of
that journal.
This is one of
the most elegant structures on
Broadway, its peculiar position, and the happy combination
in
its design of
the ornate Italian and Ionic styles
of architecture, give it a picturesque
appearance, it has been specially
adapted to the necessities of
daily newspaper publication, and, consequently, not
only
fully answers the requirements
of its owner, but is an ornament
to the city."
The author
points out that the Herald Building
is constructed of stone and iron, and as such is designed
to be a thoroughly
fire-proof structure. He follows with
a discussion of other contemporary
fire-proof buildings including the
Harper & Brothers edifice on Franklin Square.
June 23, 1866; Cover page
Wall Street, New York
Photographed by William B. Austin, New
York
Wood engraving on paper
August
12, 1876;
Supplement,
p. 665
An Indian Toilet
Signed in the plate, W.M. Cary (see page
668)
Wood engraving on paper
Excerpts from the entry on page 668: An Indian Toilet
"No dandy of civilization is more fastidious in
regard to his 'make-up' than a
young Indian warrior, or 'buck,' as he is called
on the
plains, whether in preparing for
the war-path, a big feast, or an important council.
As
may be seen by our
illustration on page 665, engraved
from a drawing made by our artist
during a peaceful sojourn in an Indian
village, the costume presents
a curious mixture of the garments of civilized and
savage life,
and the effect
is most ludicrous.
"The work of the toilet of an Indian warrior is
always performed by the squaw, who
takes great pride in adorning the person of her own
particular
'brave' in
the highest style of savage art.
Generally the first stage of the proceeding is the
painting of
the face....
In winter, black appears to be the
favorite color; in summer, reds and yellows are regarded
as
the fashionable
tints."
September 4, 1886; Cover page
Abandoned (see "Our soldiers in
the Southwest," page 567)
Drawn by Frederic Remington
Wood engraving on paper
Excerpts from the
entry on page 567: Our Soldiers in the
Southwest
"When General Miles's cavalry in the long
campaign against the Apaches in the
Southwest has chased the Indians to their own ground,
the pitching of the
camp is a very simple performance.
Whenever a resting place for the night is selected,
the soldiers dismount
and unsaddle their horses. This done,
they are in camp. There is little labor, and no
ceremony. A roaring camp
fire is a luxury they cannot now enjoy.
They rest ready at any moment to be aroused. As
soon as the first clear
light of the morning comes and the
horses are brought up from the grazing ground of
the night, instead of the
trumpet of the usual cavalry camp
the simple order is heard, 'Catch your horses.'...
"And then the march begins. The scouts lead the
way, following the trail with infinite
patience and wonderful skill. They read every hoof
print and the position of
every twig by the way with an accuracy
that an Egyptologist might envy in his sign reading.... "
April 23, 1881; p. 269
A California Bee Ranch (see page 274)
(no artist listed)
Wood engraving on paper Excerpts from the entry on page 274: A California Bee
Ranch
"Unlike the wild 'bumble bee,' as
it is commonly called, the honey bee
is not an original native of this country. Its ancestors
came over with
the Pilgrim Fathers from England or
Holland, and year by year their descendants followed
the course of civilization
westward. Restless swarms escaping
from the farmers' hives, and failing to respond to
the seductive music of tongs
and tin pans with which the frantic
owners tried to recover them, the fugitives took to
the woods, and formed independent
colonies in the cavities of decaying
trees. These colonies in turn sent out new swarms every
year, and peopled the
forests with wild bees that gradually
lost all recollection of the hives of civilization.
They were called by the
Indians 'the white man's fly.'...
"The method of hunting wild bees in California
is the same as in our Western and
Southern States. In India, Africa, and the Indian islands
the bee-hunter
has a serviceable friend and partner
in the bird called 'the honey guide,' a member of the
cuckoo family, by
which he is unerringly guided to the
tree where the wild bees build their nest. The American
bee hunter is compelled
to resort to other methods. He carries
with him into the woods a box containing a small portion
of honey,
and perhaps some mints or essences
which are attractive to bees. He waits patiently until
the bees collect about
the box, and when they have gorged
themselves with the seductive sweets, watches them
keenly as they rise circling
in the air...."
June 11, 1881; p. 376
On an Immigrant Train, Westward Bound
Drawn by S. G. McCutcheon (see page
383)
Wood engraving on paper
Excerpts from the entry on page 383: The American Pactolus
"If the little river of Pactolus had been, as
fable represents it, a stream of molten
gold, it could hardly have brought to the Lydians as
much or as lasting
wealth as is daily thrown upon the
shores of the United States by the stream of foreign
immigration....
"The contribution made by immigrants to the wealth
of the country is, in a general way,
obvious enough...
"But this is, in reality, the least important
contribution made by the immigrant
to the wealth of the nation. What he brings in strength
and energy, in the
will and capacity to work, is far
more potent, because it is more enduring, and because
it is continued and
multiplied in his children and in
their children. ...
"... They have more generally a definite purpose,
and the means of carrying it out.
They arrive more often in families, and in groups of
families, from the same
neighborhood at home, with the intention
of settling together, and not seldom with the titles
to land in the
West in their pockets."
August 25, 1883;
p. 540
Gardening for New York
Drawn by P. Frenzeny, engraved by C.
(G?) Meeder (see page 541)
Wood engraving on paper
Excerpts from the entry on page 541: Gardening for New
York
"There is probably no business in which the profits
are so certain as in that of market-gardening.
... Garden truck which is raised within a radius of
twenty miles
of New York reaches its market by wagon.
These are of large capacity, drawn usually by two horses.
They arrive
[at their destination] mostly between
midnight and daybreak. By sunrise Greenwich, Washington,
West, and the streets
adjacent and at right angles thereto
are filled with truck wagons disposing of their contents.
By eight o'clock
the business of the day, so far as they
are concerned, is usually over....
"The influx of a large foreign element has brought
with it great numbers of accomplished
gardeners. To them we are indebteed for the improvement
in the quality of
our vegetables. ... [and] for the
introduction of a variety of salads which a few years
since were to the
masses entirely unknown....
"The water-cress, which is found in nearly all
running spring water, was up to within
a few years looked upon by most people as a worthless
weed. Under the fostering
care of gardeners from Europe, it
is now one of the great luxuries of the market....
"Endowed with the fairy wand of wealth, the citizen
of New York may enjoy in the depths
of winter vegetable products which but a few years
since were obtainable
only in their season. The pleasure
of anticipation is gone, but the power of realization
has come."
September 8, 1877; p. 700
Clamming in Great South Bay, Long Island
Drawn by E. A. Abbey (see page 703)
Wood engraving on paper Excerpts from the entry on page 703: Clamming in Great
South Bay
"Between the southern shore of Long Island and
the narrow strip of the white sand
known as Fire Island Beach lies the Great South Bay,
nearly a hundred miles
in length and varying from two to
five miles in breadth. Through the sandy strip there
are occasional openings
in the ocean. This bay affords one
of the most extensive and productive clamming preserves
on the American coast,
and it was here that Mr. Abbey made
the graphic and interesting sketches given on page
700, from which the reader can
form an idea of the methods employed
in taking clams for the markets of New York and other
cities.
"The trade in clams is enormous and constantly
increasing. Millions are sold every
year in New York alone, and it is estimated that the
number of clams annually
consumed in the country reaches nearly
30,000,000."
This brief article concludes with two recipes for clam
chowder.
Supplement, July
11; 1874, p. 589
Ascent of Snowdon, Caernarvonshite,
North Wales
EIG [engraver's initials, lower
left] Fromenthall [signed in the plate,
lower right]
Wood engraving on paper
Excerpt from the entry on page 589: Ascent of Snowdon
"Of the picturesque mountain ranges that traverse
the principality of Wales, Snowdon,
in Caernarvonshire, is the highest and most noted peak.
The Welsh call it
the Wyddfa, or conspicuous. It rises
to the height of 3571 feet above the level of the sea,
and its picturesque
character is hardly equaled by any
other mountain in Wales or England. On the western
side it is extremely
steep and difficult of ascent, and
presents a singular formation of pentagonal basaltic
columns. The summit
commands an extensive view over a
range of picturesque country, and every summer crowds
of tourists toil up
its precipitous sides, like the party
in our engraving, to enjoy the charming panorama. "
Supplement, July 11, 1874; p. 592
"The Guardian."
From a painting by Alexandre Markelbach
Wood engraving on paper
July 11, 1874; p. 576
A Boy's Glorious Dream of the "Glorious Fourth"
Drawn by Percival de Luce
Wood engraving on paper
September 8, 1877; p. 761
"Croker" Fishing in the Delaware
Drawn by Schell and Hogan
together with
Yachting - A Heavy Sea
Drawn by Schell and Hogan
Wood engravings on paper
November 10, 1877; p. 880
A Cranberry Bog, Ocean County, New Jersey - Pickers
at Work
From a sketch by Granville Perkins (see
page 890)
Wood engraving on paper
Excerpt from the entry on page 890: A Cranberry Bog
"Thanksgiving turkey without cranberries is what
life is without matrimony, or matrimony
without quarrels. The small red spheres of the fruit,
crushed, sweetened,
and transmuted into a delicious crystalline
jelly, bring out all that is good in the bird's flavor,
and
supplement it so agreeably that no
reasonable housekeeper ever thinks of serving it without
the sauce, which in
its ruddiness of color seems to have
caught the very exhilaration of autumn, and in it taste
combines the
sweets and sours to perfection....
"A good 'bog,' as the swamp is now
called, yields about two hundred bushels
an acre, more or less, and we visited one last August
sixty acres of
which were expected to produce over
three hundred bushels an acre....The gathering begins
in early September,
and seven hundred people employed
in it make an exhilarating and attractive scene....Most
of them are young women
in neat cotton dresses and voluminous
sun-bonnets; but besides these are old and young fishermen
with bronzed
faces and salty clothing, who have
taken a week from their usual occupations to share
in the cranberry harvest,
which almost amounts to a festival,
and which, moreover, is very profitable to the laborers,
paying them forty
cents for every bushel gathered...."
May 26, 1877;
p. 413
The Permanent Exhibition, Philadelphia - Opening
Day
Drawn by F. B. Schell (see page 414)
Wood engraving on paper
Excerpt from the entry on page 414: Philadelphia's
New Exhibition
"The Permanent Exhibition in the Main Building
of the Centennial Fair of last year
was opened on the afternoon of the 10th inst., in the
presence of a vast
concourse of people. The city presented
a holiday appearance; shops, hotels, and dwelling-houses
were decorated with
bunting, and business was almost entirely
suspended. Early in the morning long lines of vehicles
and crowds
of persons on foot began moving toward
Fairmount Park, and the horse-cars running thither
were filled to overflowing....The
formal opening took place in the afternoon,
and was attended by President HAYES and several members
of his cabinet,
ex-President GRANT, and many other
distinguished persons. The President and his predecessor
were received by the
immense crowd with enthusiastic cheers....Our
illustration on the preceding page gives a spirited
view of the opening. "
August 12, 1876; cover page
"Struck it Rich!" - Prospecting
in the Black Hills
Drawn by John A. Randolph, engraved
by H. Baker (see page 655)
Wood engraving on paper Excerpt from the entry on page 655: "Struck
It Rich!"
"The prospecter [sic] forms a characteristic feature
of life in the mining regions of the far West. He is
the real pioneer in the wilderness, the first element
in the civilization of the West. Although undergoing
many privations and hardships, and subsisting on the
simplest necessaries of existence, the wild and independent
life he leads acquires a strange fascination over him,
and after once entering upon it, he seldom breaks away,
only feeling happy when among his beloved mountains.
"The prospecters shown in our front-page illustration
are in the famous Black Hills region,
and are equipped for a ten days' trip."
July 27, 1861; p. 476
Balloon View of Washington, D.C.
J. Wells
Wood engraving on paper
WINSLOW HOMER (1936-1910)
August 1, 1857; pp. 488-89
"The Match Between Sophs and Freshmen
- The Opening"
College Life in New England
Winslow Homer
This was Winslow Homer's first illustration
for Harper's Weekly. His published
magazine work had appeared first in
Boston's Ballou's Pictorial only
two months previously. With plenty of
narrative detail, Homer depicted the
incoming Harvard freshmen confronting
their sophomore classmates (distinguished
by top hats); a ball placed between
them suggested a football match was
imminent. It has been observed that
at that time the sport was more of a
rough and tumble exercise which often
ended in a "free-for-all fight."*
* John A. Kouwenhoven, Adventures
of America, 1857-1900: A Pictorial Record from Harper's
Weekly (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1938), plate
25.
June 5, 1858; p. 360
A Picnic by Land
Winslow Homer (but unsigned)
Wood engraving on paper
June 5, 1858; p. 361
A Picnic by Water
(not signed)
Wood engraving on paper
May 25, 1861; p. 329
The Seventy-ninth Regiment (Highlanders)
New York State Militia
Winslow Homer (but unsigned)
Wood engraving on paper
May 17, 1862; p. 308
The Union Cavalry and Artillery
Starting in Pursuit of the Rebels up
the Yorktown Turnpike
Sketched by W. Homer (see page 315)
Wood engraving on paper
Excerpts from the entry on page 315: General
McClellan's Army
"We devote several pages this week
to illustrations of our Army under General
McClellan, which has just driven the
rebels out of Yorktown....[O]n page
308 the DEPARTURE OF OUR CAVALRY AND
FLYING-ARTILLERY, under General Stoneman,
up the Yorktown turnpike, in pursuit
of the rebels....
"Five companies of Massachusetts troops
participated in a splendid little action
which took place this morning. One company
made a brilliant charge on a rebel redoubt,
drove the rebels away, killed quite
a number, and hemmed in fourteen, who
were taken prisoners. The redoubt is
situated in front of a piece of woods,
and faces an open cornfield to the right
of the Yorktown road. It was determined
last evening to reduce the work and
ascertain what fortifications were behind,
beyond the woods. Early this morning
three companies of the First Massachusetts
Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Walls,
and two companies of the Eleventh, under
Major Tripp, left camp and arrived on
the ground just about daylight."
Art Supplement to Appleton's Journal, 1869
"The Beach at Long Branch"
Winslow Homer
Wood engraving on paper
Winslow Homer's career began as an apprentice
at a Boston lithographic firm at the age of 19, where
he homed his skills in draftsmanship and composition.
In 1857 he moved to New York to work for Harper's
Weekly, and became the preëminent designer
of popular wood engravings up until the mid-1870s, when
he decided
to focus his efforts exclusively on painting.
Homer gained great notoriety as an artist-correspondent
during the
Civil War, when he was sent to the front
to cover Union General McClellan's advance on Richmond,
known
as the Peninsula Campaign. His compelling
and direct observations of combat, as well as the domestic
front,
filled the pages of Harper's throughout the war
years.* In 1865 at the age of 29, Homer was made a full member
of the National Academy of Design, indicating his acceptance
into the artistic elite. However, he continued to work
as a commercial artist, reaching his ultimate achievements
with the technically refined, tonally expressive images
of the 1870s. In his book on Winslow Homer's Magazine
Engravings, Philip C. Beam reveals how the artist's
engraving techniques became incorporated into the execution
of his paintings.
Homer excelled in scenes of everyday life, and his series
on children from the mid-seventies is considered his
finest. These depict boys and girls in ordinary activities
or at play, culminating in perhaps his most famous such
image, entitled Snap the Whip, published in 1873 and
based on his original oil painting now in the Butler
Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. Two years
later, Homer decided to pursue painting full time, settling
in Prout's Neck, Maine, where he devoted himself
to portraying the beauty and majesty of nature in land
and sea. Together with those of his contemporary John
Singer Sargent (1856-1925), Winslow Homer's
watercolors and oils are now regarded as among the most
prized works in the American canon.
* To view Homer's war-time engravings for Harper's
Weekly, visit the newly reöpened Smithsonian
American Art Museum on G Street between 8th and 9th Streets
(Gallery
Place/Chinatown Metrorail), where they
are displayed in a corridor on the second floor.
- LuLen Walker, Art Collection Curator
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