"Skating on Ladies' Pond Central Park": Winslow Homer 19th C. Woodcut Engraving, 1860

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This Winslow Homer woodcut engraving entitled "Skating on the Ladies' Skating-Pond in Central Park, New York", was published in Harper's … Read more This Winslow Homer woodcut engraving entitled "Skating on the Ladies' Skating-Pond in Central Park, New York", was published in Harper's Weekly in the January 28, 1860 edition. It depicts a large number of men, women and children skating on a recently opened pond in Central Park. At the time of publication of this engraving, Central Park was in the early stages of construction. This engraving documents the very early appearance of Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux's masterpiece of landscape design. According to Olmsted, the park was "of great importance as the first real Park made in this century – a democratic development of the highest significance". The people of New York were very proud of the plans for their park. It was stated at the time: "Our Park, which is progressing very satisfactorily under the management of the Commissioners, will undoubtedly be, one of these days, one of the finest place of the kind in the world...Those who saw the Park before the engineers went to work on it are amazed at the beautiful sites which have been contrived with such unpromising materials; all fair persons believe that the enterprise is managed with honesty and good taste.

Skating was rapidly rising in national popularity in part due to the opening of Central Park’s lake to skaters on a Sunday in December 1858 with 300 participants. The following Sunday it attracted ten thousand skaters. By Christmas Day, a reported 50,000 people came to the park, most of them to skate. There were rules governing who could use the skating pond. “The Ladies’ Pond is reserved for the fair sex, and no gentlemen are allowed to skate on it unless they are accompanied by ladies. It is kept in good order, and policemen on skates effectually repress all tendencies to rowdyism. . . . The scene . . . usually draws a large concourse of visitors.”

Homer's signature is printed in the plate in the lower left.

This beautiful Homer woodcut engraving is presented in a brown wood frame and a light cream-colored mat. The frame measures 23.13" high by 29.5" wide by 1.13" deep. There is a central vertical fold, as issued and some wrinkling of the paper in various areas. The print is otherwise in very good condition. All framing materials are archival and the piece is glazed with UV protected TruVue glass.

This Winslow Homer engraving is held by many museums, including: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Smithsonian Museum's National Gallery of Art and The Harvard Art Museum and many more.

Winslow Homer (1836-1910) was an American landscape painter, printmaker and publication illustrator. He is considered one of the most important American artists of the 19th-century. Largely self-taught Homer initially worked as an illustrator for various publications, including: Harper's Weekly, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper and Ballou's Pictorial Magazine. He worked for Harper's during the Civil War, producing woodcut engravings depicting the personal experiences of soldiers. He later became a master of oil and watercolor painting, often focussing on maritime themes.

Harper’s Weekly, published in New York, was an extremely popular publication in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In weekly issues Harper’s reported the news, entertained with literature, poetry and art, as well as educating its readers about world affairs and new inventions. It's woodcut engraved illustrations and literature added to its popularity, employing major artists and authors of the time, including Winslow Homer, Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray and Thomas Nast. See less