Our National Winter Exercise – Skating
1866
Winslow Homer captured the sheer joy and chaos of 19th-century ice skating in this lively 1866 illustration for Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. Dressed in their finest winter fashions—billowing crinolines, fur wraps, and top hats—skaters glide across the frozen surface, though not everyone is sticking the landing, as seen by the unfortunate figure sprawled on the ice in the foreground. This scene reflects the post-Civil War era's return to leisure, showing how skating became a fashionable social event where men and women could mix and mingle outdoors.
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