EVERETT SHINN (1876-1953) Orchestra and Entertainers 21 1/2 x 15...
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, COLORADO
EVERETT SHINN (1876-1953)
Orchestra and Entertainers
signed 'EVERETT SHINN' (lower right)
pastel on paper
21 1/2 x 15 1/2 in. (54.6 x 39.4 cm.)
Executed circa 1918.
Footnotes
Provenance
Estate of the artist.
[with] Graham Gallery, New York.
[with] Jules Brassner Gallery, New York.
The Art Warehouse, Valley Stream, New York, 1970.
Irving Kligfield, New York, acquired from the above, January 9, 1971.
By descent to the present owner within the family of the above, 1995.
Exhibited
College Station, Texas, Forsyth Museum, Texas A&M University, Regarding the Ashcan & The Eight, January 27-April 5, 2026.
Everett Shinn's fascination with the theater is a hallmark of his oeuvre that he revisited innumerable times and across a variety of mediums. With the theater as his muse, he explored the manipulation of movement, performance, and the dramatic effects of artificial light in a given composition. Shinn frequently depicted performers onstage, drawing upon his intimate familiarity with the theatrical world as both an artist and an active participant in New York's cultural life. This mastery of setting and draftsmanship is evident in Gallatin's observation: "Very real they are: we might almost imagine ourselves looking in upon the actual scene." (A. E. Gallatin, "Studio-Talk," The International Studio, New York, November 1906, vol. 30, no. 117, p. 86.) His theatrical subjects were particularly well suited to pastel, a medium that allowed him to work rapidly and capture the immediacy and transitory character of a performance, enabling the viewer to become a spectator at the show.
The present work captures two contrasting views in the theater: performers spiritedly dancing onstage and musicians below, energetically playing a tune. Bathed in rich, yellow light, the performers seemingly glow and float above the stage. An almost straight horizontal line divides the composition, revealing the source of the music to which the figures above dance. Rendered with rapid, vigorous strokes, the musicians appear in a deliberately animated state, their gestural energy conveying the movement and immediacy of the performance. The work belongs to a later period of Shinn's sustained engagement with theatrical subjects, when performers, stages, and music halls remained central to his imagery. The work exemplifies Shinn's enduring fascination with the theater, translating the fleeting interplay of light, movement, and music into a vibrant composition.
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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, COLORADO
EVERETT SHINN (1876-1953)
Orchestra and Entertainers
signed 'EVERETT SHINN' (lower right)
pastel on paper
21 1/2 x 15 1/2 in. (54.6 x 39.4 cm.)
Executed circa 1918.
Footnotes
Provenance
Estate of the artist.
[with] Graham Gallery, New York.
[with] Jules Brassner Gallery, New York.
The Art Warehouse, Valley Stream, New York, 1970.
Irving Kligfield, New York, acquired from the above, January 9, 1971.
By descent to the present owner within the family of the above, 1995.
Exhibited
College Station, Texas, Forsyth Museum, Texas A&M University, Regarding the Ashcan & The Eight, January 27-April 5, 2026.
Everett Shinn's fascination with the theater is a hallmark of his oeuvre that he revisited innumerable times and across a variety of mediums. With the theater as his muse, he explored the manipulation of movement, performance, and the dramatic effects of artificial light in a given composition. Shinn frequently depicted performers onstage, drawing upon his intimate familiarity with the theatrical world as both an artist and an active participant in New York's cultural life. This mastery of setting and draftsmanship is evident in Gallatin's observation: "Very real they are: we might almost imagine ourselves looking in upon the actual scene." (A. E. Gallatin, "Studio-Talk," The International Studio, New York, November 1906, vol. 30, no. 117, p. 86.) His theatrical subjects were particularly well suited to pastel, a medium that allowed him to work rapidly and capture the immediacy and transitory character of a performance, enabling the viewer to become a spectator at the show.
The present work captures two contrasting views in the theater: performers spiritedly dancing onstage and musicians below, energetically playing a tune. Bathed in rich, yellow light, the performers seemingly glow and float above the stage. An almost straight horizontal line divides the composition, revealing the source of the music to which the figures above dance. Rendered with rapid, vigorous strokes, the musicians appear in a deliberately animated state, their gestural energy conveying the movement and immediacy of the performance. The work belongs to a later period of Shinn's sustained engagement with theatrical subjects, when performers, stages, and music halls remained central to his imagery. The work exemplifies Shinn's enduring fascination with the theater, translating the fleeting interplay of light, movement, and music into a vibrant composition.
Estimate
Time, Location
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