Cross Streets of New York
Everett Shinn (American, 1876 -1953)
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In 1893, after studying engineering and industrial design, Everett Shinn decided
that he wanted to study art formally and enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy
of the Fine Arts. Shinn, along with George Luks, William Glackens, and John Sloan,
began his artistic career as a newspaper illustrator in the 1890s in Philadelphia.
Reproductions of his pen-and-ink illustrations accompanied news stories until
photographs began to replace his trade.
Shinn became associated with a group of artists known as “the Eight,” led
by Robert Henri, who were working at odds with the common academic opinions about
art of the day. This group eventually became known as the Ashcan school for their
gritty, realistic depictions of modern life and society. Shinn moved to New York
in 1897, and the other members of the Eight followed soon thereafter. Shinn continued
working as an illustrator, first for the New York World and later for magazines,
including Vanity Fair and Harper’s. The demands of journalism required
Shinn and the other Ashcan artists to create their images quickly, using bold
marks and broad brush strokes that would reproduce well on a printing press and
still meet deadline. For all of these artists, capturing the New York scene—its
skyscrapers, theaters, parks, and people—in a loose realism was the best
means of portraying its vibrancy. The rapidly changing landscape and social
fabric of the urban frontier provided the pulse behind their subjects. . . .
:: Stacey Schmidt, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Text excerpted from A Capital Collection: Masterworks from
the Corcoran Gallery of Art, which is available for purchase
in the Corcoran Shop. ::
Click here to purchase this catalog online
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