Not many of us have ever heard of this remarkably talented painter. I know this is fine art but I think he belongs here in a tangential way because of the influence he probably had on some of his fellow painters and illustrators who followed him in time, as well as some of his contemporaries.
J.J. Shannon, as he preferred to be known, was born in Auburn, New York, in 1862, of Irish immigrant parents, moved to Canada at the age of eight, thence to London at the age of 18. You can read a brief biography and view some of his extraordinary portraits at this link. He renounced his American citizenship so that he could be knighted as a British subject and be known thereafter as Sir James Jebusa Shannon.
The very prolific art critic of the time, Christian Brinton, wrote extensively about J.J. Shannon and his peers (including a Charles Shannon, of the same surname), and it is Brinton to whom we must refer for an account of Sir James and the times in which he lived.
Lady Marjorie Manners, from "Shannon and Pictorial Portraiture," by Christian Brinton, in Harper's Monthly Magazine" for July 1905. Click on image to enlarge.
Click on image to enlarge.
The following two paintings are from the website of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Jungle Tales, 1895. Click on image to enlarge.
Magnolia, 1899.
Mrs. J.J. Shannon, the painter's wife, from "Shannon and Pictorial Portraiture," by Christian Brinton, in Harper's Monthly Magazine" for July 1905. Click on image to enlarge.
Detail from this beautiful painting. Click on image to enlarge.
Miss Marjorie Shannon, the painter's niece, from the same article. Click on image to enlarge.
Detail. Click on image to enlarge.
More detail to show Shannon's extremely competent brushwork. Click on image to enlarge.
Miss Kitty Shannon, the painter's daughter. From the same article. Click on image to enlarge.
Detail. Click on image to enlarge.
Brinton published another article in Harper's Monthly Magazine for August 1910, entitled "Idealism in Modern English Art." Most of his selections appear today to be predictably dull, save this canvas J.J. Shannon called, for whatever reason, "The Silver Ship." Yes, she's holding a ship model and it's probably been made of silver, but one wonders, "Why?" This is a masterly painted portrait of a strikingly beautiful woman, alas unidentified in the article.
Brinton blathers about the lesser talents (critics have been mostly wrong since time began) and says only this: "Here and there are isolated examples which show how widespread is the appeal of fancy, how eager is the desire to escape from the channels of routine effort, and no canvases offer better instances of this than do J.J. Shannon's Infant Bacchus and The Silver Ship. Conceived in true abandonment of spirit, revealing nought save that joyous zest which should be the underlying motive of all such art...." Brinton goes on about the Infant Bacchus apparently oblivious that it is the work of Charles H. Shannon, not John Jebusa. The handsome lady is ignored, saved only by an art editor who gave the work the full page it deserved. Click on image to enlarge.
If only J.J. had told her to get rid of the ship model. I've taken that liberty, playing art director 96 years later. Click on image to enlarge the detail.
Comments