1905 (ca.), Everett Shinn, Outdoor Stage, France -- de Young Museum (San Francisco)
From the museum label:
Like many of his fellow Ashcan School artists, Everett Shinn began his career as a newspaper and magazine illustrator documenting modern urban life, and the era's popular theatrical entertainments soon became his preferred subjects. Shinn traveled to Europe in 1900, frequenting music halls in London and outdoor café-concerts in Paris.
This work combines elements of French entertainment with the American vaudeville performances Shinn watched - and also wrote, appeared in, and directed - in New York City. Like the French Impressionist Edgar Degas, Shinn evoked the dynamic exchanges between spectators and performers, and between audience members themselves, that occurred in these social spaces, where people came to mix and mingle, parading the latest fashions. Here Shinn draws our attention to the performer onstage, silhouetted against an almost garishly illuminated backdrop. Her distinctive headpiece is mirrored in the brightly colored artificial flower worn by the spectator below, who turns away from the performance and in the direction of the viewer.
1905 (ca.), Everett Shinn, Outdoor Stage, France -- de Young Museum (San Francisco)
From the museum label:
Like many of his fellow Ashcan School artists, Everett Shinn began his career as a newspaper and magazine illustrator documenting modern urban life, and the era's popular theatrical entertainments soon became his preferred subjects. Shinn traveled to Europe in 1900, frequenting music halls in London and outdoor café-concerts in Paris.
This work combines elements of French entertainment with the American vaudeville performances Shinn watched - and also wrote, appeared in, and directed - in New York City. Like the French Impressionist Edgar Degas, Shinn evoked the dynamic exchanges between spectators and performers, and between audience members themselves, that occurred in these social spaces, where people came to mix and mingle, parading the latest fashions. Here Shinn draws our attention to the performer onstage, silhouetted against an almost garishly illuminated backdrop. Her distinctive headpiece is mirrored in the brightly colored artificial flower worn by the spectator below, who turns away from the performance and in the direction of the viewer.