Pauline Haynes Shirer
“Sunset Topeka, Kansas”
Circa 1950

About the Item

Very well executed oil on masonite painting of a sunset in Topeka, Kansas by the American artist, Pauline Haynes Shirer. Signed lower right. Circa 1950. Condition is excellent. Recently professionally cleaned. Newly framed in a custom gallery frame. Overall framed measurements are 17.5 by 20.5 inches. Provenance: A Long Island, New York collector. Pauline Haynes Shirer (1894 - 1975), American Born in Topeka in 1894, Pauline is said to have been at least partially raised by her aunt, Hannah Haynes Headlee (Pauline’s mother died when she was 8 years old). By 16, she was living as a ward in the Topeka home of Elizabeth Cunningham, a dressmaker. After graduating from Topeka High School, she attended the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later Parsons School of Design), completing a two-year course in one year (1913-1914). At the same time, she took weekend classes at the Art Students League. Returning to Topeka, she studied and taught at Washburn College (now University) from 1914 to 1915 and instructed summer sessions at Kansas State Teachers College, Pittsburgh, during the same period. Afterward, she returned to the New York School of Fine and Applied Art, where she taught and took classes (1915-1918). She spent the summer of 1916 as an instructor at the Skidmore School of Art, Saratoga Springs, New York. In 1917, Pauline married Hampton F. Shirer, an architect from MIT, who was also an artist and came from a prominent Topeka family. The couple later settled in Wellesley, Massachusetts in 1921, living in a house which they built and decorated themselves. During the next 16 years, they raised two children and Pauline also found time to illustrate promotional brochures and primary school texts. During the early years of her career, Pauline focused on the applied arts – such as watercolor designs for curtains, silk fabrics, wallpaper as well as poster designs, theater backdrops and book covers. Later she would transition into creating her own representational works of art. Shirer returned to Topeka in 1937. During her career as a painter in oils and watercolors, she sketched in Europe four times and did paintings of New England subjects. However, most of her paintings were of the West. She executed Kansas views first, and they continued to hold her interest throughout her life. Typical were her studies of rustic buildings on the plains, glimpses of the prairie country, and the historic buildings of Topeka. She also painted New Mexico landscapes and Colorado mountain scenes. Among her exhibitions, mostly solo but occasionally with her husband, were those held at the Harlow and Harland’s Gallery, Boston (1922); The Scattery, Wellesley, MA (1925); Vose Galleries, Boston (1931); Topeka Art Guild (1952); Copley Society, Boston (1953); Topeka Public Library (1959, 1963, 1971, 1975); Topeka High School (1960); University of Kansas, Lawrence (1961); Mulvane Art Center, Washburn University (1964);Topeka Civic Center Gallery (1969); and the Garnet Public Library, Kansas (1970). During her solo show at the Copley Society in 1953, the Boston Globe noted that Shirer exhibited “some 30 paintings of mountains glistening in snow, mining camps, architectural landmarks, etc, were included, painted with spirit and a direct technique.” The Christian Science Monitor commented that “On these walls we generally see pictures of the New England landscape painted by artists of this locality. By comparison the topography of Colorado is spectacular. Mrs. Shirer depicts great vistas with towering skylines and spacious valleys. She conveys a feeling of the grandeur and glory of this magnificent area. Here are prospects of the Continental Divide, Front Range, and James Peak; views of Arapahow Glacier and Mammoth Gulch… Mrs. Shirer has made several interesting depictions of landmarks and architectural relics of Colorado… She points up the typical architectural features – the quaintness, the oddity, the functionalism. Those who know Colorado will respond nostalgically to these views.” Pauline died in 1975 at the age of 81 in Topeka, survived by her husband and her son and daughter and 9 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. Member: National Pen Women; Junior Louvre Art Club; Spaulding Reading Circle; Woman’s Club; Topeka Camera Club; National Old Lacers; Fan Guild of Boston (collectors); life member Topeka Art Guild; Copley Society of Boston; Charter member of the Wellesley Society of Artists; Wellesley Art Association; Topeka Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of American Colonists; Boston Society of Arts & Crafts Exhibitions: Society of Arts & Crafts, Boston, MA (1921); Harlow & Harland’s Gallery, Boston, MA (1922); Vose Galleries, Boston (1931); 14th Annual Kansas Artists Exhibition (1939); Kansas Free Fair (1939); Annual Kansas Artists Exhibition (1919, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1944); Topeka Art Guild (1952); Copley Society, Boston (1953: Watercolors of Colorado); Topeka Public Library (1959, 1963, 1971, 1975); Topeka High School (1938, 1960); University of Kansas, Lawrence (1961); Mulvane Art Center, Washburn University (1964);Topeka Civic Center Gallery (1969); and the Garnet Public Library, Kansas (1970). Awards: First Prize, Topeka Art Guild (1943) Collections: Kansas Governor’s Executive Mansion; Topeka Public Library; Walker Art Center.

Creator:

Pauline Haynes Shirer (1894 - 1975, American)

Creation Year:

Circa 1950

Dimensions:

Height: 11 in (27.94 cm)Width: 14 in (35.56 cm)Depth: 1 in (2.54 cm)

Medium:

Oil,Masonite

Movement & Style:

Post-Impressionist

Period:

1950-1959