A Cadet Hop at West Point

A Cadet Hop at West Point is a significant early illustration by Winslow Homer, created in 1859. This meticulously rendered image is a wood engraving, a print medium that dominated American mass media and journalism in the mid-19th century. Before achieving renown as a painter, Homer was an established illustrator, lending his observational talents to magazines such as Harper’s Weekly to document social and cultural scenes across the United States.

The work captures the formal social gathering known as a "hop" at the U.S. Military Academy. Homer depicts uniformed cadets navigating the dance floor, interacting with civilian women under the watchful eye of chaperones. This detailed view offers an insightful cultural snapshot of elite institutional life in the period immediately preceding the Civil War. The artist's focus on structured social ritual and the expressive body language of the figures demonstrates his emerging mastery of narrative realism.

Homer produced thousands of these commercial images during his illustrative career, ensuring their broad circulation and impact. This particular impression of the wood engraving is preserved in the permanent collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The work’s journalistic origins mean that many prints, including A Cadet Hop at West Point, often enter the public domain, making these historical illustrations widely accessible and continuing to define the legacy of Winslow Homer’s foundational career in American art.