Red chalk on light tan wove paper, circa 1910-15. 360x225 mm; 14 1/4x9inches. Signed in red chalk, lower right recto (rubbed), and countersigned in red chalk verso (pale).
Provenance: Graham Gallery, New York, with the label; private collection, Chicago.
Shinn (1876-1953) began his career, like many of his near contemporaries and fellow artists, including John Sloan and Edward Hopper, as an illustrator. He worked initially in Philadelphia, became friends with Sloan and Robert Henri, and moved to New York in 1897 to continue working as an illustrator. As his career as a fine artist progressed, Shinn became best known for street scenes and theatrical subjects, regarding the theatre as a place of satisfying illusion. Like Hopper, Shinn's best works effectively captured a slice of American urban life in the first decades of the 20th century, in both a realist and a romantic spirit.
