Weary and Dissatisfied With Everything (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. VIII)

Weary and Dissatisfied With Everything (The Galaxy, An Illustrated Magazine of Entertaining Reading, Vol. VIII) is a revealing wood engraving created by Winslow Homer in 1869. Produced early in the artist’s career, this print served as an illustration for The Galaxy, a prominent American literary and political magazine published between 1866 and 1878. During the post-Civil War era, Homer worked extensively as a professional illustrator, utilizing the demanding medium of wood engraving to document and comment upon contemporary American social life.

The illustration captures a distinct mood of quiet discontent, reflecting the piece’s evocative title. It depicts several figures, both men and women, positioned in what appears to be a public interior space or waiting area. Homer uses the stark black-and-white contrast inherent in the engraving technique to emphasize the listless or bored expressions of the subjects. The composition highlights a sense of disconnectedness among the figures, each seemingly isolated in their own melancholic contemplation. This visual narrative offered magazine subscribers a subtle commentary on the perceived ennui and emerging social anxieties within modernizing late 19th-century society.

This particular image is an excellent example of the high quality achieved by illustration during this period. The precision required for wood engraving allowed Homer to achieve rich tonal variations and textural clarity in his depiction of clothing and background details. Currently classified as a print, the work is held in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Because of its age and the nature of its original publication, the image exists within the public domain, providing researchers and enthusiasts access to these early illustrative works by Homer, which are invaluable for understanding the pervasive visual culture of the era.