By ANDY GRAY

Staff writer

Winslow Homer’s “Snap the Whip” is a familiar sight at the Butler Institute of American Art and arguably the most famous painting in the museum’s permanent collection.

There’s something different about the version hanging on the second floor starting Sunday. In the middle of that playful gang of kids is a jolly old man in a red suit and a white beard.

Artist Ed Wheeler reimagines “Snap the Whip” and dozens of other masterworks in the exhibition “Santa Classics,” which will be on display through Feb. 7, 2021.

Butler Executive Director Louis A. Zona said, “This seemed like a perfect fit with this year’s holiday season so different than it usually is. People really look forward to the craft show and the fun day with do for the families when Santa appears. With those canceled, this seemed like a perfect replacement. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s educational the way he includes Santa in some of the great paintings throughout history.”

In a telephone interview, Wheeler said he created “Snap the Whip” specifically for the Butler show.

“Winslow Homer is one of my favorites,” he said. “I’ve done three or four of his paintings. I love his characters and I love his imagery.”

Wheeler never imagined his Santa Claus images would hang on gallery walls when he first came up with the idea. Wheeler’s primary work was as a corporate location photographer, shooting everything from oil rigs in the ocean to coal mines that were two miles below the surface.

He sent a mailer to his clients every year showing him dressed up as Santa Claus and doing crazy things. After a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he decided to insert himself as Santa in place of George Washington in Emanuel Leutze’s painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware.”

“The response was amazing,” Wheeler said. “I got all kinds of emails back from my clients.”

That led to a series of Christmas cards that were developed with the Philadelphia Museum of Art product department and sold through its store. After a 2013 Huffington Post story on the card series, others began writing about Wheeler and his work went viral.

It takes more than an Instagram filter or a couple clicks on Photoshop to seamlessly insert Santa into a famous painting.

“There’s no rhyme or reason, no consistency,” Wheeler said. “The process is quite long.”

Wheeler has a few hundred paintings in his “to-do” folder. One of the first steps is getting a high-quality digital image of the work, something the Butler was able to provide with “Snap the Whip.” Then he researches the painting, looking for insight on the inspiration for the piece and the meaning behind it. Also, many older works have been restored or the digital image may have caught the light in a way that distorts the original image, and Wheeler tries to correct those changes.

“I try and get the painting itself back to the original,” he said.

Once he gets the original where he wants it, he has to create a Santa that matches the look and feel of the artist’s creation. Some are easier than others.

“Paintings up until the late 19th century are in my wheelhouse,” Wheeler said. “It’s the style of the artist and their brushwork that’s simpler for me to work with. I’ve done a couple of Van Goghs, but his brushwork is very difficult to replicate. The old realists, the Flemish genre painters are all about people and live brushwork and very nontextural. That’s easier.”

Creating images large enough to hang on a gallery wall may require an attention to detail than those small enough to fit on a greeting card, but the technology also has improved over the years. Computers can help him match his pose to the character he’s replacing in the painting, letting him know whether his arm needs to be a few degrees higher or lower to match the child in “Snap the Whip.”

And while a digital brushstroke never will completely mimic the characteristics of paint on canvas, Wheeler said, “The moves I can make in Photoshop are 10 times faster and better than they were 20 years ago.”

Since the gallery exhibition was created, Wheeler has exhibited his Santa Classics in the United States as well as in Italy, Russia and Hong Kong, and the images of Santa bring joy wherever they’re shown.

“Especially after this long hard year, we need another reason to smile,” Wheeler said. “Kids love seeing Santa in the paintings. And the response from adults, maybe it’s the deja vu back to their childhoods that makes them enjoy the paintings even more.”

If you go …

WHAT: “Ed Wheeler: Santa Classics”

WHEN: Sunday through Feb. 7, 2021. Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday.

WHERE: Butler Institute of American Art, 524 Wick Ave., Youngstown

HOW MUCH: Admission is free. For more information, go to butlerart.com or call 330-743-1107.