The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (444 page)

(1769–1850).
Irish portrait painter, active from 1788 in London. There he became second only to
Lawrence
as the leading society portraitist, and in 1830 he succeeded him as President of the
Royal Academy
, which he guided through a difficult period. Examples of his work—which in style lies between the bravura of Lawrence and the precision of
West
—are in the National Portrait Gallery, London. His
Rhymes on Art
(1805), urging the claims of art on national support, enjoyed a considerable popularity. He also published
Elements of Art
(1809).

 
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(1883–1965).
American painter and photographer, the best-known exponent of
Precisionism
. Between 1904 and 1909 he made several trips to Europe, and gradually abandoned the bravura handling of
Chase
(his teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts) for a manner influenced by European modernism—the paintings he exhibited at the
Armory Show
of 1913, for example, were much indebted to
Cézanne
. In 1912 Sheeler took up commercial photography for a living while continuing to paint. He worked for a while in fashion photography, but his shy and undemonstrative personality was not suited to this world, and he concentrated more on very mundane subjects such as plumbing fixtures. The clarity needed in such work helped to transform his style of painting to a meticulous smooth-surfaced manner that was the antithesis of his early approach. He began to paint urban subjects in about 1920 and over the next decade shifted from simplified compositions influenced by
Cubism
(on ‘the borderline of abstraction’ in his own words) to highly detailed photographic-like images. In 1927 he was commissioned to take a series of photographs of the Ford Motor Company's plant at River Rouge, Michigan. His powerful photographs, presenting a pristine view of American industry, were widely reproduced and brought him international acclaim. Increasingly, also, he was recognized as the finest painter in the Precisionist style, his work standing out as much for its formal strength as for its technical polish. Sheeler's paintings continued in this realistic vein in the 1930s, but in the mid-1940s his style changed dramatically; he began using multiple viewpoints and bold unnaturalistic colours, although his brushwork remained immaculately smooth. In 1959 he suffered a stroke and had to abandon painting and photography.

 
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(1876–1953).
American painter and graphic artist. While employed as an illustrator on the
Philadelphia Press
he became a member of the group of friends who were inspired by Robert
Henri
, and after he moved to New York in 1896 he became a member of The
Eight
and of the
Ash-can School
. Shinn differed from his associates in his choice of subject, preferring scenes from the theatre and music-hall to low-life imagery. However, in 1911 he was commissioned to do murals for Trenton City Hall, New Jersey, and these have been described as the earliest instance of
Social Realist
themes in public mural decoration. He also did decorations for the interior of the Belasco Theatre, New York. In addition Shinn painted fashionable portraits, illustrated numerous books, wrote plays, and worked as an art director for motion pictures.

 
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(1627–1703).
Flemish landscape painter who settled in England in the early 1670s. His landscapes are somewhat
Rubensian
, but he is best known for his ‘portraits’ of English country houses, done in a simple, rather archaic manner; two views of Longleat, Wiltshire (1675 and 1676), are still preserved in the house. He was the first professional exponent of the genre.

 
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siccative
.

A substance added to oil paint to make it dry more quickly. Siccatives are dangerous aids as they may cause cracking or darken a picture.

 
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