Everett Shinn - Select Painting Analysis

Select Painting Analysis

The Fight, 1899 (Charcoal). In The Fight, a group of men stand on the right side of the drawing, watching a fist fight that is taking place in the center, right outside of a bar. Both black and white men are represented in the drawing, something unusual for Shinn's time period. The subject of the drawing (two men fighting) was very controversial. Fighting and brawls were typically associated with the lower class, a class that wasn't typically depicted in high art during Shinn's time. There is a bold stroked, yet sketchy quality to the piece that makes the subjects seem even more uneasy and off-balance. The balance of the drawing is heavily on the right side of the painting with much more open urban space depicted on the left. This drawing is typical of Shinn because it shows lower class subjects in the urban landscape.

Theater Scene, 1906 (oil pastel on canvas). This painting is representative of Shinn's work in that it incorporates the theater, Shinn's favorite subject, and an intricate set design, another of Shinn's hobbies. The painting itself is of a group of dancers, clad in mostly white, onstage with a detailed backdrop of picturesque hills and a garden. The brush strokes are broad and wide and the painting has a sense of immediacy to it. The figures within the painting almost seem to be moving. The dancers are all dressed in white, a color symbolic of purity and one often associated with the upper class. The subject matter and content of this painting greatly contrasts with some of Shinn's other works that depict the lower classes as well as a diverse array of subjects. The painting has an almost dreamlike quality to it, making it seem more impressionist than realist in some parts.