Post 2

The Vaudeville Act

Everett Shinn
Oil on Canvas
1902-1903

In this piece there is a young woman in pale pink, pirouetting in the center of the stage while holding an open parasol. On her right stands a man in a top hat, coat, and red dress pants, with his arms on his hips. The stage and performers take up most of the canvas. In front of the dancing woman are three men in the orchestra, heads bent down while they play. In the bottom left corner is a man, presumably an audience member, looking out of the painting at the viewer. His is the only face we can really see. It is painted in wispy brush strokes and uses many pastel colors, with accents of yellow, red, and black.

This piece was created at the turn of the century and appears to be set at vaudeville in New York City. Vaudeville was a popular form of entertainment at this point in history. There was a fairly large gap between the poor and the wealthy in those days and, according to Wikipedia, vaudeville attempted to close that gap and attract a variety of people. The painting definitely speaks of the glamour and diversion of the era through various details in the painting. There is the intricate gold detailing on the stage, the whimsical young lady, twirling about center stage, wearing a pale pink hat, dress, and carrying a parasol, the gentleman in his top hat and suit (whom we could believe to be a comedic player based on his bright red pants and playful stance), and the live orchestra. The scene takes the viewer to another world, the same way films and television do today, and Shinn captures this world in his painting. However, after one views the painting for the while (most people are immediately drawn to the performers on stage), the eye is drawn to the face in the lower right hand corner. Shinn’s placement of the audience member looking directly out of the painting detracts a bit from this “escape from reality”. This contrast, which almost feels like the man is watching us, watching the play, is a bit confusing as he is the intended audience of the performance. This causes the mind to think about why Shinn would do that, again detracting from our fantasy world and bringing us right back to our present situation, highlighting the realism that Shinn was so well known for.

Obviously while I was walking through the museum, I was immediately drawn to the couple on stage. It’s painted in a style that I really appreciate and I loved the colors used to depict the beautiful showgirl and her partner. I was also attracted to the era it takes place in, because, to me, it appears to be such a romantic time period. By just focusing on the couple, I was able to start forming stories in my head surrounding the characters on the canvas, which is something I tend to do when I find a piece of art that inspires me. Just like I said before, Shinn takes you to another world, a more”Hollywood” world, an escape (basically the opposite of realism). But once you look long enough, you begin to notice what’s happening offstage, and that is a key element in this piece. The spectator’s face takes away from the fantasy, although not in a negative way. Shinn could’ve put an expression on the face that made us uncomfortable and starkly contrasted what was going on onstage. Instead, the man is expressionless, leading the people looking at the piece wondering why he is looking at us and not at the stage.

Shinn was very involved in the arts. The informational plaque underneath this painting informed us that he was a newspaper illustrator, artist, amateur actor, stage designer, and an art director for several theatres and major motion picture studios. He also lived in New York City and Paris for quite a while and was extremely familiar with show business and the arts in both locations. Shinn painted many paintings that are similar to this in style and in choice of subject. He also tended to not only paint the scene on the stage, but to incorporate audience members as well. I'd say he was extremely familiar with what he was painting and how he felt about it.

The plaque also made a claim as to what the point of this painting was. “The painting is about seeing and being seen amidst the spectacle of urban life.” This makes sense to me, literally, as it is clearly depicted in the painting by us seeing the characters, and the man in the corner "seeing" us, and figuratively, as Shinn uses the piece to support his fascination with the "colliding realms of performer, orchestra, and spectator" by having the audience member be a "performer" for us, but also a spectator in the painting.

I was raised being dragged from museum to museum and from historical sight to historical sight, so I have an appreciation for the importance of art. I love history, so anything history-related is fun for me, but I’m pickier about the kind of art we saw in the Palmer Museum. I only like certain styles. So I’d say I’m a museum-goer, but I have to know what kind of museum I’m going to. It was my first time going to the Palmer Museum and although I didn’t know what to expect, it was very interesting. I doubt I’ll go back, unless they have a new exhibit, because I don’t tend to go out of my way to go to museums unless they have something I’ve never seen before.