A portrait of Winslow Homer
U of M professor and filmmaker Steven J. Ross' documentary on the painter will air on PBS next Thursday
By: Nikki Bussey
Issue date: 10/2/08 Section: Other Stories
Sitting in his cluttered office littered with books, papers and shelf after shelf of videos, Memphis professor Steven John Ross was excited to talk about his latest project.
Ross' film, Winslow Homer: Society and Solitude, makes its television debut next Thursday on PBS.
The movie, written, produced and directed by Ross, documents the life of Winslow Homer, a painter in the 19th century who was best known for his work on marine subjects. Homer worked at Harper's Weekly, a monthly, general-interest magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance and the arts, who sent him to paint images that covered life before the Civil War, during the war, and after the war.
Ross' fascination with Winslow Homer began when he saw Homer's "Searchlight on Harbor Entrance," Santiago de Cuba (1901), a painting of a Harber in Cuba in 1893, during the Spanish American War.
"The first time I saw it, I was dumbfounded that it was by Homer," Ross said.
Ross said his feeling about the intricacy of Homer's artwork relates to his thoughts of American cinema.
"When I was in my teens, what I found was if you were serious about film, it was European films," he said. "When I got older, I realized great American films were as complex and as meaningful. They are so likeable. I've always felt that way about Homer."
Ross said a lot of people never took Homer's work seriously because of what he painted.
"He is so complex in terms of his painting," Ross said. "You can see society and his emotions He can be looked at from so many different points of view. His work has that much potential."
When he moved to Memphis in 1981, the thought of doing a movie about Homer came to him, but it just kept getting pushed back. He said it didn't seem right to do a film about a "Yankee painter" here in Memphis.
Although eight of his films have been shown on public television, Ross still gets a kick out of it.
"It's great when hundreds of thousands of people are watching when you are watching it," Ross said. "That's a great feeling, but it's with an audience when you get to experience it. That's a great experience. You feel like you are connecting with an audience. They are passionate about it."
Ross' film, Winslow Homer: Society and Solitude, makes its television debut next Thursday on PBS.
The movie, written, produced and directed by Ross, documents the life of Winslow Homer, a painter in the 19th century who was best known for his work on marine subjects. Homer worked at Harper's Weekly, a monthly, general-interest magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance and the arts, who sent him to paint images that covered life before the Civil War, during the war, and after the war.
Ross' fascination with Winslow Homer began when he saw Homer's "Searchlight on Harbor Entrance," Santiago de Cuba (1901), a painting of a Harber in Cuba in 1893, during the Spanish American War.
"The first time I saw it, I was dumbfounded that it was by Homer," Ross said.
Ross said his feeling about the intricacy of Homer's artwork relates to his thoughts of American cinema.
"When I was in my teens, what I found was if you were serious about film, it was European films," he said. "When I got older, I realized great American films were as complex and as meaningful. They are so likeable. I've always felt that way about Homer."
Ross said a lot of people never took Homer's work seriously because of what he painted.
"He is so complex in terms of his painting," Ross said. "You can see society and his emotions He can be looked at from so many different points of view. His work has that much potential."
When he moved to Memphis in 1981, the thought of doing a movie about Homer came to him, but it just kept getting pushed back. He said it didn't seem right to do a film about a "Yankee painter" here in Memphis.
Although eight of his films have been shown on public television, Ross still gets a kick out of it.
"It's great when hundreds of thousands of people are watching when you are watching it," Ross said. "That's a great feeling, but it's with an audience when you get to experience it. That's a great experience. You feel like you are connecting with an audience. They are passionate about it."