Fan Design: Two female nudes
Shannon, Charles Haslewood
c.1905–1910
A signed Charles H. Shannon watercolour fan design executed on silk.
Signed 'Chars. Shannon' to the lower right.
Shannon is known to have designed many fans, primarily for himself, and the choice of accessory is typical of the Aesthetic Movement and reflects the wider interest in Japonisme among artists of the day. Many of the designs are presumed to have been unrealised. The present watercolour depicts two nude women on a shore, one seemingly drying the other's foot. The composition is similar to other fan designs by Shannon dating from c.1907 depicting groups of women 'à la toilette' or with young children (commonly titled 'First Steps').
Charles H. Shannon (1865–1937) was trained as a wood-engraver at the City and Guilds Technical Art School in Lambeth, London, where he met the painter and designer Charles Ricketts. In 1888 they moved into Whistler’s house, The Vale, in Chelsea. Shannon was particularly concerned with experimenting with lithographic techniques and woodcut illustrations. He and Ricketts set up a small printing press, producing art journals and books, including their own magazine The Dial. Shannon also collected widely, and with Ricketts formed a substantial collection of Egyptian and Classical antiquities, Persian ceramics, Japanese prints, drawings by Titian, Tintoretto and Rembrandt, together with works by contemporary artists. Shannon is mentioned in Whistler's diaries for purchasing the artist's own 'Design for a Fan' gouache and watercolour study from c.1870. The majority of their collection was left to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Signed 'Chars. Shannon' to the lower right.
Shannon is known to have designed many fans, primarily for himself, and the choice of accessory is typical of the Aesthetic Movement and reflects the wider interest in Japonisme among artists of the day. Many of the designs are presumed to have been unrealised. The present watercolour depicts two nude women on a shore, one seemingly drying the other's foot. The composition is similar to other fan designs by Shannon dating from c.1907 depicting groups of women 'à la toilette' or with young children (commonly titled 'First Steps').
Charles H. Shannon (1865–1937) was trained as a wood-engraver at the City and Guilds Technical Art School in Lambeth, London, where he met the painter and designer Charles Ricketts. In 1888 they moved into Whistler’s house, The Vale, in Chelsea. Shannon was particularly concerned with experimenting with lithographic techniques and woodcut illustrations. He and Ricketts set up a small printing press, producing art journals and books, including their own magazine The Dial. Shannon also collected widely, and with Ricketts formed a substantial collection of Egyptian and Classical antiquities, Persian ceramics, Japanese prints, drawings by Titian, Tintoretto and Rembrandt, together with works by contemporary artists. Shannon is mentioned in Whistler's diaries for purchasing the artist's own 'Design for a Fan' gouache and watercolour study from c.1870. The majority of their collection was left to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Fan-shape. (150 x 375 mm). Watercolour on silk; framed: 470 x 695 mm.
#48759
