Conte crayon, charcoal and white wash
8 by 10 inches
1900
Born in Philadelphia, William Glackens
became an Impressionist painter who modified the style by retaining
delineation of figures. But early in his career, he was an active
Social Realist when the 'Ash Can' approach to painting was being
promoted by Glackens' good friend, Robert Henri. However, Glackens
eschewed subjects of the seamier side of society and adopted more
refined depictions such as upper class persons strolling in parks,
sitting in cafes, and studio posed still lifes and figures. Of
Glackens' inclination to distance himself from less-than-pleasant
subjects, art historian Matthew Baigell wrote: "Of all the
realists around Henri, Glackens was perhaps least attracted to
the life of the streets, preferring scenes of middle-class activities
in parks, in the theater, at shopping, or on vacation." (136).
He also did many paintings of seaside
resorts on Cape Cod and Long Island, particularly Bellport where
he and his family spent summers. Surprising to many of his associates
was the fact that even though he had much exposure in Europe to
avant-garde thinking, he expressed little interest in the modernist
art movements that followed Impressionism and that took such hold
among his peers.
Glackens graduated from Philadelphia's
Central High School with John Sloan, and in 1891 became an artist-reporter
for the "Philadelphia Record." He did the same kind
of work from 1892 to 1895 for the "Philadelphia Press".
He studied briefly at the Pennsylvania Academy with Thomas Anshutz,
and there formed a strong bond of friendship with John Sloan,
George Luks, Everett Shinn and Robert Henri and then shared a
studio and traveled in Europe with Henri. He spent a year in Paris
where he painted many scenes of life in the parks and cafes.
Glackens settled in New York, worked
as an illustrator, and in 1898, went to Cuba as an artist-reporter
for "McClure's" magazine of the Spanish-American War.
He became part of "The Eight," a landmark exhibition
of urban realists, led by Henri, at the Macbeth Galleries.
In 1912, he went on an extensive art-buying
trip in Europe for Albert Barnes, a friend from high school who
had amassed a fortune from an antiseptic gargle solution. Barnes
built a huge home and museum in Merion, a suburb of Philadelphia,
and established the Barnes Museum. The many works of Renoir, Degas,
Van Gogh and Cezanne that Glackens purchased for Barnes became
the center of the Museum collection. This project also firmed
Glackens' interest in the Impressionists, especially Renoir from
whom he adopted "soft, feathery brush-work and rich, variegated
colorism, with emphasis on sift pinks, yellows and greens"...(Gerdts
281)
