Weary and Dissatisfied with Everything

"Weary and Dissatisfied with Everything" by Winslow Homer is a significant wood engraving created in 1869. This key print, produced during a pivotal period in American art history, exemplifies Homer’s early mastery of illustrative work intended for mass circulation. As a leading illustrator during the post-Civil War era, Homer often employed the readily accessible medium of wood engraving to capture complex human emotions and genre scenes for a broad audience across the United States.

The work’s title immediately sets a tone of disillusionment and profound personal contemplation, characteristic of the societal shifts occurring in the late 1860s. While lacking detailed color, the medium allowed Homer to achieve remarkable precision and stark contrasts in light and shadow, necessary for effective black-and-white reproduction in the illustrated magazines of the time. These graphic prints were instrumental in shaping the visual culture of 19th-century America.

Homer’s prolific and influential output of published works secured his lasting place as a foundational American artist. This important impression of Weary and Dissatisfied with Everything is held in the permanent collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Because of its age and cultural impact, this piece, like many of Homer's illustrations, frequently enters the public domain, ensuring that high-quality prints and documentation of this masterful wood engraving remain widely accessible for researchers and art enthusiasts globally.