I’m not sure if he belongs to any particular movement like Van Gogh or Dali, I just remember liking Homer’s work because I recognized it easily in grade school. When I attended St. Agnes, this nice man who worked for the Illinois government (probably from the antiquities research department) would come to my class once a month for a brief art history lesson. A favorite Homer painting he showed was Snap the Whip which I found pretty cool. Here was a slice of American life in the 19th century which wasn’t a battle, a self-portrait or the painter’s mistress. Heck it could’ve been a scene from Tom Sawyer with how well he captured the details.
Another thing which made a lasting impression on me was an anecdote the nice man provided about Homer’s sense of humor. I may have some details wrong because 30 years have passed since I heard this but here’s the gist. One Fall he bought some apple cider in a barrel and put it under his house to freeze it. Through this process all the good stuff got coagulated in the center. Homer then drilled a hole to drain the concentrate out for himself. Afterwards, he gave the melted remnants to a nephew who came back to tell the artist how awful the cider was. Not exactly a knee slapper, yet I could imagine my grandpa doing the same prank.
Years later I discovered his wit when he debuted The Gulf Stream at a public showing. Homer’s realistic style and eye for detail depicting the man’s crisis with the sharks horrified some women. He later told the audience not to worry, the man was rescued later by a passing ship.