''Snap the Whip'' is the name of two almost identical 1872 oil paintings by the American artist

Winslow Homer Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters of 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...

. It depicts a group of children playing

crack the whip Crack the whip (also known as Pop the Whip or ''Snap the Whip'') is at its simplest an outdoor children's game, usually played in small groups, on grass and sometimes ice. One player, chosen as the "head" of the whip, runs (or skates) around in ...

in a field in front of a small red schoolhouse. With more of America's population moving to cities, the portrait depicts the simplicity of rural agrarian life that Americans were beginning to leave behind in the post-Civil War era, evoking a mood of

nostalgia Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a neoclassical compound derived from Greek language, Greek, consisting of (''nóstos''), a Homeric word me ...

. Homer spent several summers in New York's Hudson Valley, and is said to have been inspired to paint this scene by local boys playing at the Hurley schoolhouse. Snap the Whip 1872 Winslow Homer

The first version is in the

Butler Institute of American Art The Butler Institute of American Art (BIAA), located on Wick Avenue in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, was the first museum dedicated exclusively to American art. Established by local industrialist and philanthropist Joseph G. Butler, Jr., the ...

Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in Mahoning County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, 11th-most populous city in Ohio with a population of 60,068 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Mahoning ...

. Homer painted a second version, of similar date, which is now in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

. In this, he retains the schoolhouse but the background hillscape is removed, making the location less regionally specific.

References

External links

''Snap the Whip''
on the Butler Museum of Art homepage.
''Snap the Whip''
Analysis of 'Snap the Whip'. {{Authority control Paintings by Winslow Homer 1872 paintings Paintings in Youngstown, Ohio