Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 11

Everett Shinn
"Reclining Nude" Everett Shinn, Figurative Woman Watercolor, Ashcan School

1940

About the Item

Everett Shinn Reclining Nude, 1940 Signed and dated lower left Watercolor on paper 4 1/2 x 9 inches Provenance: Christie's New York, Interiors, August 28, 2012, Lot 181 Private Collection Everett Shinn, a future member of the Eight and remarkable, rather theatrical personality was born at Woodstown, New Jersey in 1873. Even more recent sources give 1876 as the year of Everett Shinn's birth but the artist usually lied about his age to appear younger than he actually was. Edith DeShazo claimed that information from family members established the date of November 6, 1876 as Shinn's birthday. But if this is true, he would have enrolled at the Spring Garden Institute in Philadelphia to study industrial art at the age of twelve. Born to a Quaker named Isaiah Conklin Shinn and Josephine Ransley Shinn, Everett was their third child. He enjoyed a happy childhood as an undisciplined boy fond of sweets, acrobatics, and the circus. Shinn opted for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts for instruction in the fall of 1893, and began as a staff artist for the Philadelphia Press. At that time William Glackens was working there as well, while John Sloan was at the Inquirer. A year later, Glackens was at the Press, and also, in 1894, George Luks joined the staff there. As DeShazo explained, "the Press art department became a meeting place for men both on the staff and off with similar artistic and literary interests." Members of the same group also met at Robert Henri's studio. By 1897, Shinn was in New York, working for the New York World where Luks had been for about a year. The rest of the "Philadelphia Four" would follow them before long. Shinn spent much of 1898 hounding the offices of Harper's until finally, the editor and publisher, Colonel George Harvey saw his portfolio, then commissioned a view of the Old Metropolitan Opera House in a snowstorm. The pastel appeared about a year later in the February 17th issue of Harper's Weekly, in 1900. Meanwhile, Shinn kept busy with decorative work (murals, screens, and door panels) at private residences and even in Trenton, New Jersey's City Hall. In 1899, the Boussod-Valadon Galleries gave Shinn his first one-man show. He continued to carry out commissions for illustrations. Shinn began exhibiting at the Pennsylvania Academy (1899-1908) and at the Art Institute of Chicago (1903-43). A trip to Europe is documented in 1900 by an exhibition at Goupil's in Paris and by various drawings of Paris and London but nothing more appears to be known about where Shinn went or what he saw, except that he was in Paris in July. Undoubtedly, he would have seen the art at the Paris Universal Exposition. DeShazo noted that after having returned to America, Shinn lost interest in lower class urban life, and Young pointed out that unlike most members of the Eight, Shinn was not attracted to art focused on "people sleeping under bridges." In fact, he loved the glamor of Uptown, fashionably dressed ladies, and above all, Shinn wanted to depict the excitement of the theater. He himself was an amateur playwright. Shinn used spatial devices that Degas had initiated earlier but as Young rightly observed, Jean-Louis Forain (1852-1931) is a more accurate source for Shinn's chic theatrical pieces, dancers, and cabaret scenes. Théophile Steinlen (1859-1901) was another artist popular with the Philadelphia artist-reporters group, as Ferber noted. Shinn was not part of the National Arts Club exhibition of works by future members of the Eight in 1904, but he was mentioned by Gallatin in 1906 as a kind of American Degas. The author praised Shinn's draftsmanship and the technique of his pastels: "Very real they are: we might almost imagine ourselves looking in upon the actual scene." Shinn did take part in Macbeth Galleries' famous show four years later. He exhibited eight works, including The Hippodrome, London (Art Institute of Chicago), The White Ballet, ca. 1905, and The Orchestra Pit (both: collection of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur G. Altschul). One of his works sold, a painting now called Revue (Whitney Museum of American Art), formerly titled Girl in Blue. Shinn also participated in the Exhibition of Independent Artists in 1910 and finished the murals in Trenton in the following year. Milton Brown regarded these depictions by Shinn of pottery kilns and steel mills as "important . . . in that they treated a contemporary industrial subject rather than an historical or allegorical scene." Shinn was invited but refused to exhibit in the 1913 Armory Show. In fact, at that time, he was working on neo-Rococo decorative panels in private residences. Not much has been written on Shinn's activities between 1920 and 1940. He did not exhibit often but continued to work as an illustrator. In the 1940s, Shinn was represented by Ferargil Galleries. He contributed "Recollections of The Eight," an essay in the Brooklyn Museum's catalogue of the exhibition The Eight, which opened on 24 November 1943. The rather monochromatic Washington Square (Addison Gallery of American Art) is a late work, from around 1945. Shinn, who died in New York City on May 1, 1953, managed to outlive all other members of the Eight. Unfortunately for us all, a thorough, scholarly monograph on the artist remains to be written. Shinn showed the impressionists' love of contemporary subject matter and painted in a spontaneous, non-academic manner. In fact, critics seem to agree that Shinn's facility was his downfall. On the other hand, he maintained visual and narrative clarity, as his penchant toward illustration prevailed.
More From This SellerView All
You May Also Like
  • ”Admiring the Picture”
    By Benjamin Kopman
    Located in Southampton, NY
    Very well executed original gouache on archival paper by the well known American artist Benjamin Kopman. The scene depicts three figures admiring a picture. Signed lower left. Circa ...
    Category

    1930s Ashcan School Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Gouache, Archival Paper

    ”Admiring the Picture”

    Benjamin Kopman
    ”Admiring the Picture”, Circa 1930

  • James Penney, New York From Central Park
    By James Penney
    Located in New York, NY
    James Penney was widely known for his New Yorker covers as well as his paintings and prints. Penney was from Saint Joseph, Missouri. He trained i...
    Category

    Mid-20th Century Ashcan School Landscape Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Watercolor

    James Penney, New York From Central Park

    James Penney
    James Penney, New York From Central Park, 19340

  • Third Man 2, black and white, night scene, cityscape
    By Tom Bennett
    Located in Brooklyn, NY
    Dramatic imagery from FILM NOIR series of black and white monotypes, blending surreal mindscapes with stark realism About Tom Bennett: With quick brushstrokes, Tom Bennett creates r...
    Category

    2010s Ashcan School Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Archival Paper, Monotype

    Third Man 2, black and white, night scene, cityscape

    Tom Bennett
    Third Man 2, black and white, night scene, cityscape, 2020

  • A Pair of Framed Monkey Studies
    By Alexander Oscar Levy
    Located in Buffalo, NY
    A pair of exquisite drawings by American Ashcan School artist Alexander Oscar Levy.
    Category

    1920s Ashcan School Animal Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Archival Paper, Graphite

    A Pair of Framed Monkey Studies

    Alexander Oscar Levy
    A Pair of Framed Monkey Studies, 1920's

  • Otis Skinner as Col. Philippe Bridau in "The Honor of the Family"
    By George Benjamin Luks
    Located in Concord, MA
    GEORGE LUKS (1867-1933) Otis Skinner as Col. Philippe Bridau in "The Honor of the Family", c. 1919 Charcoal on paper 12 x 7 ¾ inches (sight) Signed at lo...
    Category

    1910s Ashcan School Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Charcoal

    Otis Skinner as Col. Philippe Bridau in "The Honor of the Family"

    George Benjamin Luks
    Otis Skinner as Col. Philippe Bridau in "The Honor of the Family", c. 1919

  • Head Study, 1930
    By John Sloan
    Located in Missouri, MO
    Head Study, 1930 John Sloan (1871-1951) Signed Lower Right 10.5" x 9" Unframed 19" x 16.5" Framed Born in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, John Sloan became one o...
    Category

    Early 20th Century Ashcan School Portrait Drawings and Watercolors

    Materials

    Paper, Conté

    Head Study, 1930

    John Sloan
    Head Study, 1930, 1930

Recently Viewed

View All

More Ways To Browse

Old House Paintings Watercolor
Blithe World Home
Venice Prints 19th Century
Ad Mexico
Sultan Oman
Horse And Trainer Oil
Beat Generation Art
Set English Prints Engravings
Henry Carter
The Plantation Museum Exhibit
Framed Divine Comedy
Long Thin Artwork
Oil Painting Vintage Winter
Warhol Herself
Islamic Fabric
Paris Spring Street People
Frank Zappa Painting
Hippie Paintings
View All Popular Figurative Drawings and Watercolors Searches