Comparing The Lifeline By Winslow Homer And Prairie On Fire
The paintings “The Lifeline” by Winslow Homer and “Prairie on Fire” by Charles Deas are two paintings that really struck out to me as similar. I think Homer’s painting, “The Lifeline”, is a very dramatic painting because of how the lady is just laying there passed out while this brave man is swinging across dangerous waves and rocks to get them to safety. Its very different from looking at in class because you can actually see the texture and brush strokes the artist used. When standing in front of a painting, it almost feels like your there watching this happen. You can see all the different details from the small brush strokes to the large ones, and the effect of light almost makes them look like they are glistening. I selected Charles Deas painting to compare to Homer’s painting because in both paintings a woman is passed out and is
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getting saved by an anonymous hero who is battling to safety. In the painting, “Prairie on Fire”, the hero’s face is turned, so all we see is the back of his head while he fights another man on another horse. In Homer’s painting, the scarf of the lady is covering the hero’s face. I really liked both of these paintings because there were very appealing, interesting, and similar. Homer’s painting made me feel the danger and the struggle to get to one place to another with a lot of obstacles in the way while Deas’ painting made me feel like I was watching a movie where her prince charming is saving a damsel in distress.
In Winslow Homer’s painting “The Lifeline”, there are a lot of formal elements being used such as color, light, perspective, symmetrical balance, and line.
Homer uses the color red of the woman’s scarf to pull you toward her and to bring out the drama, danger, passion, and fear. He also uses dark colors such as dark blue and grey to show drama and that the two people are scared for their lives. Light is another element used for the waves. As can be seen in the painting, the wave that is under the two figures is the lightest one to create a focal point on the two above. Perspective is used with the two figures in the foreground to show the importance. The painter does not want you to focus on too much, but them. Line is used for the ropes and the pulley system. The lines of the rope drag your eyes straight to the main focus point and that’s the woman and the man. The painting has symmetrical balance because it has the two figures in the middle and on the sides there are both large masses. To the right, there is the ship and to the left, there is a large wave. That is all the formal elements used in this painting by Winslow
Homer.
In Charles Deas’ painting “Prairie on Fire” has a lot of the same formal element, light, color, balance, line, and perspective but just used differently. Light is used in this painting to highlight the white horse, which symbolizes purity, pride and honor. The light is also highlighting the dangling woman. The color red of her shawl conveys the passion of the moment of her anonymous hero saving her. Line is used for the swords, which shows the battle between hero and enemy. The actual line of the swords draws your eye down to the girl who is unconscious. The perspective of the painting has the five figures, the two horses, two men, and woman in the middle ground. The background has a fire and thunderbolt while the foreground is just dark with grass. This painting also has balance, but not symmetrical like “The Lifeline”. This painter uses asymmetrical balance. The figures are slightly to the right while the left is empty, but the bursting flames of the fire to the left give it a sort of balance. The fire and the lighting bolt to the left also show danger. That’s how the many formal elements were used through out the painting. Winslow Homer’s painting “The Lifeline” uses American Realism to portray something that really happened. Realism is an art that portrays “form in the natural world in a highly faithful manner” (Getlein 551). Homer uses this to portray a scene of bravery and heroism. This painting shows a dramatic rescue of two people suspended above rough waves by a lifesaving device that is connected to ropes used as a pulley. Homer was always a realistic painter. During the civil war, Homer was an artist that drew the life of soldiers camping and being heroes. By 1882, Homer changed his interest to the sea and wilderness (Cooper). He lived in Maine, closer to the ocean, to capture the movement of the waves and nature to capture the drama for his paintings. As can be seen in the painting, you can tell that the guy is saving the young woman by carrying her over by the pulley. Homer wanted to portray the hero that is courageous and anonymous saving a helpless beautiful woman, so that people can relate to the knight-in-shining-armor into a “realistic, contemporary adventure” (PMA Wall Panel). Charles Deas, who is known for his oil painting of Native Americans and fur trappers of the 19th century (Clark), also used American Realism on the painting “Prairie on Fire”. Deas specialized in portraits and multilayered scenes of Indians and Europeans clashing and associating (Johnson). In this painting, there is a man on a white horse with a woman who is passed out and dangling while the man fights another man who is on a black horse as the prairie is on fire. All of Deas paintings show tension, danger, and fight (Clark). In this painting, you can see the fight between the two figures, the tension of the fire getting near and putting the woman in danger who is helpless. This painting portrays a classis American version of a rescue with the hero on a white horse galloping across flaming prairies (PMA Wall Panel). The two paintings share similarities and differences. The exhibit “Shipwreck”, that both of these painting are in, is an exhibit of painting to show the meaning of a famous American rescue (Shipwreck!). Both of these paintings show the dramatic scene of a young woman getting saved by an anonymous hero. You cannot see the faces of either of the heroes, and both of the women are passed out. In “The Lifeline” it only takes one slip for the woman to fall helplessly into the waves, and in the “Prairie on Fire” it only takes the woman to fall off the horse to die. They both are done in the style of American Realism to show the desperate human struggle through a heroic action. The only difference of the two is that in “The Lifeline”, the couple is fighting against only nature, while in the “Prairie on Fire”; they are fighting against the fire and the man. I have lived in Philadelphia for over 6 years now, and I have never been inside the Philadelphia Art Museum, so I was glad when I had a reason to go. I’ve been to the great big steps to hang out and take pictures, but never inside. I always thought of it as one of Philadelphia’s great tourist attractions because of how beautiful it is, but its truly more gorgeous inside. Everything at the museum was really interesting. I walked around the museum and saw all different kinds of art. I thought it was cool that some of the artists we studied in class had paintings there too. When I got to exhibit, I thought it was more inspiring. It felt like every painting was a piece to a puzzle to portray a bigger picture. While looking around the exhibit, the two paintings “The Lifeline” and “Prairie on Fire” are really enigmatic. They both seemed so similar to me, but yet so different. While doing research for these two paintings, I did not find it as difficult as the paper before. I think it was because these two artists, Winslow Homer and Charles Deas, are more popular and there’s a lot more information on them especially since Winslow Homer’s “The Lifeline” is the center of the exhibition. The easiest thing was using Oxford Art Online because it showed me biographies of my artists. The hardest thing was putting all the information together to bring it back to the iconography of the painting.
Works Cited
Cooper, Helen A. “Homer,Winslow”. Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online.
Philadelphia Museum of Art Wall Panel
Clark, Carol. “Deas, Charles”. Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online.
“Shipwreck! Winslow Homer and The Life Line”. Philadelphia Museum of Art. 2012.
Johnson, Kirk. “Artist’s Work, Out of Attics, Goes to Walls of a Museum”. The New York Times. Aug. 24, 2010.
getting saved by an anonymous hero who is battling to safety. In the painting, “Prairie on Fire”, the hero’s face is turned, so all we see is the back of his head while he fights another man on another horse. In Homer’s painting, the scarf of the lady is covering the hero’s face. I really liked both of these paintings because there were very appealing, interesting, and similar. Homer’s painting made me feel the danger and the struggle to get to one place to another with a lot of obstacles in the way while Deas’ painting made me feel like I was watching a movie where her prince charming is saving a damsel in distress.
In Winslow Homer’s painting “The Lifeline”, there are a lot of formal elements being used such as color, light, perspective, symmetrical balance, and line.
Homer uses the color red of the woman’s scarf to pull you toward her and to bring out the drama, danger, passion, and fear. He also uses dark colors such as dark blue and grey to show drama and that the two people are scared for their lives. Light is another element used for the waves. As can be seen in the painting, the wave that is under the two figures is the lightest one to create a focal point on the two above. Perspective is used with the two figures in the foreground to show the importance. The painter does not want you to focus on too much, but them. Line is used for the ropes and the pulley system. The lines of the rope drag your eyes straight to the main focus point and that’s the woman and the man. The painting has symmetrical balance because it has the two figures in the middle and on the sides there are both large masses. To the right, there is the ship and to the left, there is a large wave. That is all the formal elements used in this painting by Winslow
Homer.
In Charles Deas’ painting “Prairie on Fire” has a lot of the same formal element, light, color, balance, line, and perspective but just used differently. Light is used in this painting to highlight the white horse, which symbolizes purity, pride and honor. The light is also highlighting the dangling woman. The color red of her shawl conveys the passion of the moment of her anonymous hero saving her. Line is used for the swords, which shows the battle between hero and enemy. The actual line of the swords draws your eye down to the girl who is unconscious. The perspective of the painting has the five figures, the two horses, two men, and woman in the middle ground. The background has a fire and thunderbolt while the foreground is just dark with grass. This painting also has balance, but not symmetrical like “The Lifeline”. This painter uses asymmetrical balance. The figures are slightly to the right while the left is empty, but the bursting flames of the fire to the left give it a sort of balance. The fire and the lighting bolt to the left also show danger. That’s how the many formal elements were used through out the painting. Winslow Homer’s painting “The Lifeline” uses American Realism to portray something that really happened. Realism is an art that portrays “form in the natural world in a highly faithful manner” (Getlein 551). Homer uses this to portray a scene of bravery and heroism. This painting shows a dramatic rescue of two people suspended above rough waves by a lifesaving device that is connected to ropes used as a pulley. Homer was always a realistic painter. During the civil war, Homer was an artist that drew the life of soldiers camping and being heroes. By 1882, Homer changed his interest to the sea and wilderness (Cooper). He lived in Maine, closer to the ocean, to capture the movement of the waves and nature to capture the drama for his paintings. As can be seen in the painting, you can tell that the guy is saving the young woman by carrying her over by the pulley. Homer wanted to portray the hero that is courageous and anonymous saving a helpless beautiful woman, so that people can relate to the knight-in-shining-armor into a “realistic, contemporary adventure” (PMA Wall Panel). Charles Deas, who is known for his oil painting of Native Americans and fur trappers of the 19th century (Clark), also used American Realism on the painting “Prairie on Fire”. Deas specialized in portraits and multilayered scenes of Indians and Europeans clashing and associating (Johnson). In this painting, there is a man on a white horse with a woman who is passed out and dangling while the man fights another man who is on a black horse as the prairie is on fire. All of Deas paintings show tension, danger, and fight (Clark). In this painting, you can see the fight between the two figures, the tension of the fire getting near and putting the woman in danger who is helpless. This painting portrays a classis American version of a rescue with the hero on a white horse galloping across flaming prairies (PMA Wall Panel). The two paintings share similarities and differences. The exhibit “Shipwreck”, that both of these painting are in, is an exhibit of painting to show the meaning of a famous American rescue (Shipwreck!). Both of these paintings show the dramatic scene of a young woman getting saved by an anonymous hero. You cannot see the faces of either of the heroes, and both of the women are passed out. In “The Lifeline” it only takes one slip for the woman to fall helplessly into the waves, and in the “Prairie on Fire” it only takes the woman to fall off the horse to die. They both are done in the style of American Realism to show the desperate human struggle through a heroic action. The only difference of the two is that in “The Lifeline”, the couple is fighting against only nature, while in the “Prairie on Fire”; they are fighting against the fire and the man. I have lived in Philadelphia for over 6 years now, and I have never been inside the Philadelphia Art Museum, so I was glad when I had a reason to go. I’ve been to the great big steps to hang out and take pictures, but never inside. I always thought of it as one of Philadelphia’s great tourist attractions because of how beautiful it is, but its truly more gorgeous inside. Everything at the museum was really interesting. I walked around the museum and saw all different kinds of art. I thought it was cool that some of the artists we studied in class had paintings there too. When I got to exhibit, I thought it was more inspiring. It felt like every painting was a piece to a puzzle to portray a bigger picture. While looking around the exhibit, the two paintings “The Lifeline” and “Prairie on Fire” are really enigmatic. They both seemed so similar to me, but yet so different. While doing research for these two paintings, I did not find it as difficult as the paper before. I think it was because these two artists, Winslow Homer and Charles Deas, are more popular and there’s a lot more information on them especially since Winslow Homer’s “The Lifeline” is the center of the exhibition. The easiest thing was using Oxford Art Online because it showed me biographies of my artists. The hardest thing was putting all the information together to bring it back to the iconography of the painting.
Works Cited
Cooper, Helen A. “Homer,Winslow”. Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online.
Philadelphia Museum of Art Wall Panel
Clark, Carol. “Deas, Charles”. Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online.
“Shipwreck! Winslow Homer and The Life Line”. Philadelphia Museum of Art. 2012.
Johnson, Kirk. “Artist’s Work, Out of Attics, Goes to Walls of a Museum”. The New York Times. Aug. 24, 2010.