FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 29, 2006

CONTACT: Katie Reilly / Marketing Coordinator

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info@benningtonmuseum.org

Winslow Homer program at Bennington Museum

Dr. Russ Housman will present a special slide lecture titled Winslow Homer: Up Close and Personal, on Thursday, January 11, 2007, at 7:00 p.m. at the Bennington Museum. This program relates to an exceptional show of works by Winslow Homer and Thomas Nast that is currently on view at the museum.

Winslow Homer is considered by many art experts to be among the top watercolorists in the history of American art. Homer was also a master illustrator, and the Bennington Museum show features his graphic skills with an excellent selection of wood engravings originally produced for the popular journal Harper’s Weekly. The subject matter of these prints celebrates the special events and holidays of the fall and winter seasons in New England.

Dr. Housman will not only speak to the current show at the museum but will also be concerned with the personal events in Homer’s life that moved him from a serious illustrator to a conceptual artist. Much of this personal information about Winslow Homer, seldom if ever found in the history books, became available to Dr. Housman through a friendship that he and his wife developed with Doris Homer, Winslow Homer’s niece and the last surviving member of the Homer family.

Meeting with Russ and Bobbi Housman in the Ark, Homer’s studio, Doris shared wonderful family stories and sometimes very humorous anecdotes from and about her uncle Winslow. Coming across artifacts in the studio led her to recall even more stories.

Lastly, Russ Housman will delve into Homer the hunter, angler, sportsman. He will even talk about time that Homer spent right in Arlington, VT. A romance that ended sadly will add a bittersweet touch and, more important, will emerge as a factor that changed the young Homer’s life and career forever.

Be sure to remember the date of this “up close and personal” program at the Bennington Museum: Thursday, January 11 at 7:00 p.m. The museum galleries will be closed to the public for cleaning and refurbishing during the daytime hours, but the museum will open in the evening for this special presentation, as it will several other evenings in January before reopening February 1.

The Bennington Museum is located at 75 Main St. (Route 9) one mile west of the intersection of Routes 7 and 9 in downtown Bennington, Vermont. For more information about the museum, visit the website at www.benningtonmuseum.org.