American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists

Housed in a period Walfred Thulin frame.

Provenance:

Adelson Galleries, New York, New York.

Acquired directly from the above.

Private Collection.

Lot Note:

Bonnie Glass was a beloved exhibition and vaudeville dancer who headlined various venues in New York during the first quarter of the 20th century. Born Helen Roche in 1895, she was lauded for her theatrical routines and chic style and frequently performed alongside the likes of Clifton Webb and Rudolph Valentino. By 1915, she was managing Café Montmartre, a popular club in Manhattan, where she was responsible for choreography, design of costumes and sets, as well as discovering new talent.

Immersed in the world of theatre, Everett Shinn depicted countless performance scenes and occasionally portrayed performers as well. A painter of real life, he viewed the pastel medium, with its immediate and unset quality, as better suited to render movement and energy. Far from static, his compositions display dynamic fluidity instead. It is thus no coincidence that Shinn should have favored pastel over any other medium to elicit Glass’s vibrant personality.

The long, vertical portrait presents Glass as a confident, fashionable, and mesmerizing figure. Her standing posture, head tilted and chin slightly up, compels the viewer to return her peering gaze, arguably the focal point of the composition and a vehicle for her intensely magnetic demeanor. Her outfit, an elegant wide brimmed hat and fur-edged velvet coat with supple, undulating folds, further conveys her graceful persona as a dancer, emulating one of the perfectly choreographed performances that made her famous, while also underlining her stylistic acumen. In this portrait, Shinn suggests that, as a performer, cultural icon, or artistic subject, Glass always commands an audience.