Everett Shinn

Everett Shinn (November 6, 1876, Woodstown, New Jersey – May 1, 1953, New York City) was an American realist painter and member of the Ashcan School, also known as 'the Eight.' He was the youngest member of the group of modernist painters who explored the depiction of real life. He is most famous for his numerous paintings of New York and the theater and of various aspects of luxury and modern life inspired by his home in New York City.

Infobox Artist
name = Everett Shinn


caption = "Cross Streets of New York", 1899.
birthdate = birth date|1876|11|6|mf=y
location = Woodstown, NJ
deathdate = death date and age |1953|5|1|1876|11|6|mf=y
deathplace = New York, NY
nationality = American
field = painting, set design
movement = Modernism,realism
associations = Ashcan School or 'The Eight', The Charcoal Club

Biography

Shinn was born in Woodstown, New Jersey, a large Quaker community.http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,883271,00.html "One of Eight"] , "Time (magazine)", March 11, 1935. Accessed May 14, 2008. "Others of "The Eight" may have been better artists but none, including the late, lusty George Luks, had a more adventurous life than Everett Shinn. A fat little Quaker boy in Woodstown, N. J., he was known as "Pud" (pudding) to his contemporaries."] His parents, Isiah Conklin Shinn and Josephine Ransley Shinn were rural farmers. He had two brothers: Warren, who was older and Harold who was younger.Wong, Janay. (2000) "Everett Shinn: The Spectacle of Life." New York: Berry-Hill Galleries.] Shinn was named for the author Edward Everett Hale of whom his father was a great fan. In 1898, Shinn married Florence Scovel, known as "Flossie", another artist from New Jersey. In 1912, he and Flossie divorced. He was remarried to Corinne Baldwin in 1913 and they had two children, Janet and David. By 1933, Shinn had divorced two more wives and was the subject of many tabloid rumors. He suffered many losses during the Great Depression and sold very few paintings during that time. Between 1910 and 1937, Shinn held only one exhibition of paintings at Knoedler's in 1920. Between 1937 and his death in 1953, Shinn received several awards commending his innovative paintings and participated in several exhibitions. He died of lung cancer in 1953.

Philadelphia

Shinn left Woodstown at the age of fourteen and enrolled at a technical institution known as the Spring Garden Institute in Philadelphia from 1888-1890. The school specialized in the teaching of mechanical drawing and architecture and was also attended by fellow member of ‘The Eight,’ John Sloan. [Clifford, Henry, Sloan, John and Shinn, Everett. (1945) "Artists of the Philadelphia Press: William Glackens, George Luks, Everett Shinn, John Sloan. October 14-November 18, 1945." The Philadelphia Museum Bulletin 41.207 ] Following his education, Shinn spent a year working at the Thackery Gas Fixture Works designing light fixtures. After being fired for doodling in the margins of his plans, his former employer urged him to go into a more creative field, citing the newspaper and magazine industries as examples.

He began his work for the "Philadelphia Press" in 1893 as an illustrator. Many, including Shinn, consider this the true beginning of his art career. In later years, Shinn would express his great dismay over the development of photography as the major source of pictorials in newspapers because it eventually largely replaced his form of art. He continually moved from paper to paper for the rest of his illustrating career, receiving a pay increase with each move. The attention to detail necessary for his newspaper illustrations is reflected in his style and later paintings, especially those of urban nature. In 1899, he quit the newspaper business and began working for "Ainslee's Magazine", a magazine that also employed his wife, who was by that time a very successful illustrator and who brought in a good deal of the household income. Shinn also started displaying his work publicly in 1899 with mixed reactions. In 1900, he and Flossie traveled to Europe for him study and prepare to produce another exhibit. The trip greatly influenced his art in years to come during his visit, he saw European art that was focused on theatrical portrayals, as well as impressionist works.

Shinn has said of his experience at the Philadelphia Press:

"In the Art Department of the Philadelphia Press on wobbling, ink-stained drawing boards William J. Glackens, George Luks, Everett Shin and John Sloan went to school, a school now lamentably extinct…a school that trained memory and quick perception."

It was during Shinn's time in Philadelphia that artists John Sloan and Joseph Laub established the Charcoal Club as an alternative art school. The group, whose membership was comprised of members of 'the Eight' such as Henri, Sloan, Glackens, Luks and Shinn reached a peak membership of 38 members sketched nudes and did critiques of each others work. The club is often thought of as the establishing point of the Philadelphia group, later known as ‘The Eight’.

New York and 'The Eight'

In 1897, Shinn was offered a higher paying job as an illustrator for the New York newspaper, "The World." He moved there and was joined shortly there after by his wife, Flossie, and by other members of the Charcoal Club. Shinn enjoyed living in the city and observing the eccentric daily hustle and bustle exemplified by living in New York. Much of Shinn's life and opinions were reflected in his work. His life in New York was a major subject in many of his paintings. His fascination with the urban changes and city revolutions was evident in paintings like "Fire on Mott Street" and "Fight". Shinn often depicted scenes of drama and violence, rallying for social change and urban understanding. Coinciding with the dramatic themes found throughout his work, theatre was also a major subject in Shinn's pastels.

'The Eight,' also known as the Ashcan School, was a group of eight artists that rebelled against traditional academic artistic standards. Their name was established in 1907 when they held their single united exhibition together. Henri, Robert.(1943-1944) "Eight." Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences] The members of the group were extremely diverse in their subjects and painting styles, a fact that contributed to their short-lived nature. The groups style is most commonly associated with the realist movement in modern art.

In the years of 1901-1910 Shinn began to experiment more with subjects in his work, gaining respect from art critics slowly but progressively. His paintings began to include the subject of theatre, something he is known for now and he became an acclaimed used of pastels. During this time, he also did several murals, including one for the Belasco Stuyvesant Theatre that was eighteen panels.

Style

Shinn's pastels were bold and brushy. His strokes were thick and his paintings communicated a sense of immediacy, sending a message similar to that of a snapshot. Through his many years, Shinn experimented in the mediums of oil, pastel red chalk, gouache and watercolors, though his most famous works were oil pastels. Like many painters associated with the realist movement, Shinn often depicted women and men from diverse races, classes and social backgrounds in public spaces together. This exploration of lower class subject matter is representative of the modern art movement. Many members of 'The Eight' had ties to these subject experimentations. Shinn, like is peers, was concerned with depicting real life and the world around him. [Shinn, Everett. (1959)"Everett Shinn: 1876-1953: An Exhibition of His Work." Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press.] Many of his paintings were inspired by his window views and walking through the parks in New York City, his most instrumental paintings were created during his time there.

Legacy

Shinn was the youngest member of ‘The Eight.’ He was also the first to become famous. Though Shinn's work was exploratory in subject matter and dramatic in style, it is considered most commonly in context with ‘The Eight.’ Shinn's depictions of city life, the theater and high contrast spectacles made his work different than the popular impressionist works of the time Shinn's name is still associated with uniqueness and a style of painting that essentially originated with the Ashcan School.

Shinn also had a lasting impact on the art world specifically in New York City. Because a favorite subject of Shinn's was daily life in the city, specifically the parks and common areas where races mixed, he was able to impact the art scene and social climate of New York. Shinn made it more acceptable to depict the diverse population with a realistic style. Through many of his works, Shinn documented leisure time and its impact on the American lifestyle. New York was also Shinn's home for a good deal of his life, was where he grew to fame and was where much of his for "The Eight" stemmed from. [ Kramer, Hilton.(2001) "Shadows in the City." "Art and Antiques"24.3, 152.]

Photo Gallery

Select Painting Analysis

"The Fight", 1899 (Charcoal).In "The Fight", a group of men stand on the right side of the drawing, watching a fist fight that is taking place in the center, right outside of a bar. Both black and white men are represented in the drawing, something unusual for Shinn's time period. The subject of the drawing (two men fighting) was very controversial. Fighting and brawls were typically associated with the lower class, a class that wasn't typically depicted in high art during Shinn's time. There is a bold stroked, yet sketchy quality to the piece that makes the subjects seem even more uneasy and off-balance. The balance of the drawing is heavily on the right side of the painting with much more open urban space depicted on the left. This drawing is typical of Shinn because it shows lower class subjects in the urban landscape.

"Theater Scene", 1906 (oil pastel on canvas).This painting is representative of Shinn's work in that it incorporates the theater, Shinn's favorite subject, and an intricate set design, another of Shinn's hobbies. [Deshazo, Edith.(1974) "Everett Shinn 1876-1953: A figure in his time." New York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. ] The painting itself is of a group of dancers, clad in mostly white, onstage with a detailed backdrop of picturesque hills and a garden. The brush strokes are broad and wide and the painting has a sense of immediacy to it. The figures within the painting almost seem to be moving. The dancers are all dressed in white, a color symbolic of purity and one often associated with the upper class. The subject matter and content of this painting greatly contrasts with some of Shinn's other works that depict the lower classes as well as a diverse array of subjects. The painting has an almost dreamlike quality to it, making it seem more impressionist than realist in some parts.

Selected works

*"Fifth Avenue Coach, Winter", 1906, Montclair Art Museum

*"Self-Portrait",1901, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C.

*"The Vaudeville Act", 1902-1903, Palmer Museum of Art at Pennsylvania State University

*"Theater Scene", 1903, Terra Foundation for the Arts, Chicago

*"Tenements at Hester Street", 1900, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

*"Dancer in White Before the Footlights", 1910, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio

*"Outdoor Stage, France", 1905, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco

*"Tightrope Walker", 1924, Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio

*"Backstage Scene", 1900, Delaware Art Museum

*"Actress in Red Before Mirror", 1910, Hunter Museum of American Art, Tennessee [Henning Jr., William.(2007) "Everett Shinn (1876-1953)." http://www.huntermuseum.org/frameforcollections.aspx?page=include/html/artists/everettshinn.htm]

Exhibitions

*1899, January 16-February 25, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, pastels

*1903, April 24-June 1, Art Institute of Chicago

*1905-1906, November 20-January 1, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh

*1907, January 21-February 2, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

*1908, March 7, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Chicago, Buffalo, Toledo, Ohio, "Eight"

*1910, April 18, American Watercolor Society, New York

*1920, June-August, Knoedler's, New York

*1937, February 9-March 5, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, "New York Realists"

*1944, Fall, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, "Bastille Day Exhibit"

*1946, November 19-December 7, American British Art Center

*1950-1951, December 9-February 25, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

*1952, November, James Graham & Sons, New York

ee also

*American realism
*Ash Can School
*John Sloan
*Robert Henri
*William Glackens

References

External links

* [http://www.npg.si.edu/cexh/artnews/shinn.htm National Portrait Gallery profile]
* [http://www.illustration-house.com/bios/shinn_bio.html Everett Shinn biography (Illustration-house.com)]
* [http://www.artfact.com/features/viewArtist.cfm?1=1&searchType=artist&artistRef=C787N4ZF82 Everett Shinn biography at artfact.com]
* [http://www.huntermuseum.org/frameforcollections.aspx?page=include/html/artists/everettshinn.htm Exhibition Information and Shinn biography]