Art and Beauty Tuesday--Winslow Homer

Today's Art and Beauty Tuesday is The Campfire by Winslow Homer.  Having just camped myself, I thought this would be a nice painting to focus on today.  The juxtaposition of darkness, not only in the background, but in the clothing of the figures, with the bright light of the fire shows Homer's true talent and ability with paint.

The boy inside the tent shields his eyes from the light, while the young man sitting nearest the fire seems oblivious to its effect, lost in his own world.  The fire itself seems to crackle with life, its sparks flying upwards and out of the frame.  It is easy to forget this *is* a painting and Homer really captures the mesmerizing effect of fire, as well as its life like quality.  It is also easy to see, in a setting like this, how light became identified with the Energy of the Creator.

Note:  As usual, I can't do justice to the painting in the space allotted in this blog.  Believe it or not, Wiki has a good, detailed image of The Campfire.