The Muskegon Museum of Art in Muskegon, Mich., presents a new exhibition, Winslow Homer: Illustrating a Nation, which opened Jan. 20. Winslow Homer was one of the most significant American artists of the 19th century, famed for his dramatic depictions of people and nature, as well as his illustrations of day-to-day life and the battles of the Civil War in Harpers Weekly, a New York City-based illustrated magazine that extensively covered the American Civil War. The exhibition features several of Homers best known images, including The Noon Recess, Snap the Whip, A Sharpshooter on Picket Duty, and The Dinner Horn, a companion image to the MMAs oil painting Answering the Horn. Other works in the exhibition depict illustrations of leisure, work, and the everyday lives of people, as well as dramatic scenes and circumstances. In 1861, Harpers Weekly assigned Homer to illustrate the events of the Civil War, which brought his work to the forefront of the nation. Homer captured the day-to-day events of the war, illustrating battles, soldiers in conflict and at rest, and the effects of the war on the families at home. Today, the Harpers Weekly illustrations serve as a direct record of the events of the Civil War. Winslow Homer: Illustrating a Nation is underwritten by the JSJ Foundation, Thelma and Paul Wiener Fund for the Arts of the Community Foundation for Muskegon County, and Blue Lake Public Radio. For more information or questions, call 231-720-2574.