Everett Shinn at Berry-Hill
NEW YORK CITY – Everett Shinn (1876-1953) is one of the most accomplished and celebrated artists of the Ashcan School, famous primarily for his scenes of the stage and the city. From November 29 to January 13, 2001, Berry-Hill will exhibit his work exactly 200 years after his first show in New York in 1900 – a critical and commercial success that launched the artist’s remarkable career.
“Everett Shinn: ” consists of 50 works, both well-known examples on loan from New York area museums and newly-discovered treasures that have been lost to sight for decades. Among the discoveries are “Broadway – After the Theatre” (1899), a scene which epitomizes the drama of the city streets, and “Girl in Red on Stage,” which puts the viewer into the audience, becoming part of the spectacle.
Shinn is identified with the revolutionary group known as “The Eight” (also referred to as the Ashcan School, who exhibited together in 1908) but on his own he made a far-reaching contribution. He was the youngest of the group and in some ways the least attached. Today he is remembered mainly for his vivid depictions of New York City streets and the theatre, which distinguish him as one of the most insightful chroniclers of turn-of-the-century New York. For more than 50 years – in oil, pastel, sanguine, gouache and watercolor – Shinn focused on the spectacle of modern life.
“Theatre Scene” (Manoogian Collection), which may have been in the first exhibition of “The Eight,” is a dazzling display of movement on the stage. “London Music Hall,” 1918, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and “Keith’s, Union Square,” 1906, from the Brooklyn Museum of Art, are among the classic and familiar theatre images of Shinn’s oeuvre; “Mouquin’s,” 1904, from the Newark Museum, is another captivating glimpse of the urban scene depicted in Shinn’s individual bravura manner.
Shinn started his career with low-toned pastels of urban themes, and even following his trip to London and Paris in 1900, when his palette brightened and turned increasingly to theatrical subjects, he maintained his interest in the urban scene as a site of public interaction. The works in this exhibition were selected to highlight the fascination experienced by New Yorkers with the diversity of their environment. Shinn occasionally detoured from the public sphere to the more private world of the boudoir, bathroom, or salon, examples of which are also represented in the exhibition.
A fully illustrated catalogue by Janay Wong will be available.
The gallery is at 11 East 70th Street and is open Monday to Friday 9:30 am to 5:30 pm, and Saturday 10 am to 5 pm. Telephone, 212/744-2300.
