In this lecture, Peter H. Wood, emeritus professor of history at Duke University, explores Near Andersonville, an important work by Winslow Homer–one of America’s most famous and admired artists who rose to prominence as a young illustrator during the Civil War. In a 1988 landmark exhibition, Wood and Karen Dalton brought attention to the fact that many of Homer’s most significant works from the Civil War and Reconstruction years focused on African Americans, both enslaved and free. Wood has continued to pursue this theme of Homer’s black images. “For me,” Dr. Wood observes, “Near Andersonville is a revolutionary painting in the world of American art. Only now, a century and half later, are we beginning to understand its significance, its implications, and its ongoing relevance.”

This program is part of the Understanding Race LSA Theme Semester and is cosponsored by the Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design Witt Visiting Artist Program and the University of Michigan Museum of Art. For more information about the theme semester please visit http://understandingraceproject.org/.