Lot Essay
Everett Shinn moved to New York City in 1897 to work as an illustrator and artist -- careers that he had begun in Philadelphia several years earlier. At this time Shinn became friendly with other artists and illustrators, including John Sloan, William Glackens, and George Luks, who would eventually become known as The Eight. During the first decade of the twentieth century Shinn explored urban subject matter similar to that of the other members of The Eight, venturing into the depths of New York's slums and working-class neighborhoods, as well as visiting its celebrated parks and glittering evening cafes.
Whereas other members of The Eight expressed commitment to social reform in their works, Shinn reveled in the extraordinary spectacle of both wealth and poverty that the great metropolis provided. The Park in Winter reflects these qualities -- the skyline along the edge of Fifth Avenue glitters in the night as snow and steam swirl through the air, creating an atmosphere that is unique to Manhattan in winter. Hansom cabs line the edge of the snow-covered street, their dark silhouettes punctuated by the sparkle of their bright carriage lamps. A couple arm-in-arm makes their way across the street to the awaiting cabs, carrying an umbrella for protection against the wind-driven snow.
Shinn was not alone in choosing wintertime New York as subject matter for his pictures. His colleagues in The Eight were also attracted to the city as transformed by a layer of snow. For example, William Glackens painted Central Park in Winter (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) of circa 1905 about the same time that Shinn investigated related subject matter with wholly different mood and style in The Park in Winter.
Contemporary critics recognized Shinn's artistic gift for capturing in pastel the essence of an urban scene. In 1913 Albert Eugene Gallatin wrote, "Shinn may be accounted as one of the modern masters of the pastel, and as an artist who realizes its great artistic possibilities. His sure and swift draughtsmanship lends itself admirably to such subjects as the streets of New York and Paris present, and it is in these pictures that we discover the most personal expression of the artist's genius. These are amazingly intimate portraits, executed in amazingly alluring and harmonious colours, full of the distinguishing traits of the locality, in which its very atmosphere has been recorded." (A.E. Gallatin, Whistler's Pastels and Other Modern Profiles, New York, 1913, p. 60)
Whereas other members of The Eight expressed commitment to social reform in their works, Shinn reveled in the extraordinary spectacle of both wealth and poverty that the great metropolis provided. The Park in Winter reflects these qualities -- the skyline along the edge of Fifth Avenue glitters in the night as snow and steam swirl through the air, creating an atmosphere that is unique to Manhattan in winter. Hansom cabs line the edge of the snow-covered street, their dark silhouettes punctuated by the sparkle of their bright carriage lamps. A couple arm-in-arm makes their way across the street to the awaiting cabs, carrying an umbrella for protection against the wind-driven snow.
Shinn was not alone in choosing wintertime New York as subject matter for his pictures. His colleagues in The Eight were also attracted to the city as transformed by a layer of snow. For example, William Glackens painted Central Park in Winter (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) of circa 1905 about the same time that Shinn investigated related subject matter with wholly different mood and style in The Park in Winter.
Contemporary critics recognized Shinn's artistic gift for capturing in pastel the essence of an urban scene. In 1913 Albert Eugene Gallatin wrote, "Shinn may be accounted as one of the modern masters of the pastel, and as an artist who realizes its great artistic possibilities. His sure and swift draughtsmanship lends itself admirably to such subjects as the streets of New York and Paris present, and it is in these pictures that we discover the most personal expression of the artist's genius. These are amazingly intimate portraits, executed in amazingly alluring and harmonious colours, full of the distinguishing traits of the locality, in which its very atmosphere has been recorded." (A.E. Gallatin, Whistler's Pastels and Other Modern Profiles, New York, 1913, p. 60)