The Bright Side (painting)

Its subject matter and small size mark the piece as illustration, while its style points to Homer's future as a realist painter.

[4] Although they received far less pay and suffered higher mortality rates than their white counterparts, nearly 190,000 African Americans, both free and fugitive, served as Union soldiers.

Some worked as teamsters driving mule- and horse-drawn wagons in exposed supply trains targeted by Confederate raiders.

[4] According to the critic for The Evening Post, the work possessed a “direct style and faithful observation of nature.” He also found in the painting “a dry, latent humor and vigorous emphasis of character..” Today, Homer's reputation as one of America's greatest realist painters coincides with the critic's view of him as an artist quite capable of rendering a truthful scene.

However, in light of 19th century white male thinking, many viewers, including some art critics, saw the painting as a stereotypical reference to the perceived inherent laziness of dark-skinned people.

[4] Scholars have long debated the painting's meaning and whether it was Homer's intention to reinforce prevailing stereotypes of African Americans.

[5] Another interpretation, based on the painting's alternative title Light and Shade, suggests Homer is making a disparaging pun about color at the expense of his subjects.

The teamsters are now in essence the property of the army, but on the "bright side", they are no longer bound in the cruel servitude that triggered the Civil War.

"[8] Another critic saw "The Bright Side" as referencing the Antebellum "uncertainty and ambivalence many white Americans felt about the prospect for an integrated society.