100 Years of Illustration

Florence Scovel Shinn, early work - 3

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" 'Rich young squirts o' college fellers' "

From Overhauling the Politcianers by George S. Wasson in the August 1903 issue of The Century Magazine.

Detail of the above illustration. Not only is her pen line wonderful, but so are her portrait sketches.

" 'Show!' Repeated the sheriff" is another terrific characterization that is perfect for a George Savary Wasson story. Wasson was famous for his books about the Maine coast. His novel Cap'n Simeon's Store was very popular at the time this piece was published. Yellow tint block is my doing.

Florence Scovel Shinn, early work - 2

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In Childhood's Happy Hour, from the February 1902 issue of Harper's Monthly Magazine. There may be a certain sameness to the children but they are extremely well drawn. I've added the blue tint block. 

She studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from 1889 to 1897. There that she met her future, but younger, husband, the soon-to-be famous painter of the "Ashcan School*" Everett Shinn. Although Florence received a first-class education at the Academy, her pen and ink drawings are all her own and what she did for a livelihood until she began to write and publish inspirational literature.

Everett Shinn, 1876-1953

Shinn began his career as an illustrator. This is from a piece in Scribner's Monthly Magazine for April 1902

 entitled How Easter Comes to the City. The link, above, connects to his more celebrated work. 

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*On a personal note, I had the good fortune to study with Harold Irving Smith, a portrait painter and illustrator who had himself studied with Robert Henri and George Luks, two members of the "famous eight" of the Ashcan School.

Florence Scovel Shinn, early work

Let's try a different tack while TypePad sorts things out. I'll upload individual pieces instead of a whole string of images, so that I can put text where it ought to be. Stay tuned and look for new material about this incredible woman with more frequency than I have been posting before. 

This illustration appeared in Harper's Monthly Magazine for August 1902 for fiction by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews (1860?-1936) entitled The Fox's Understudy.

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