Life in Camp, Part 1: Hard Tack

After Winslow Homer American
 Publisher Louis Prang & Co. American

Not on view

In 1864 Homer designed two series of lithographed collectors’ cards titled Life in Camp for the Boston publisher Louis Prang & Co. Unlike his serious war-time images for Harper’s Weekly, the artist felt free to inject humor into these miniature comments on army life which include images of soldiers resting, eating and reacting to army life. Here, a Union soldier reacts to hard tack, a hated food staple that provided little more than calories. By 1864 the war was entering its final months and formerly sacrosanct subjects could be approached more lightly.

Life in Camp, Part 1: Hard Tack, After Winslow Homer (American, Boston, Massachusetts 1836–1910 Prouts Neck, Maine), Color lithograph

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