The Shoe Shop

Elizabeth Sparhawk-JonesWW-1911-014966

1911·Oil on canvas·99 × 84.2 cm (38 15/16 × 33 1/8 in.)

<p>In 1911 the department store was a relatively new and important urban institution, and <em>The Shoe Shop</em> depicts the activities of female employees and their customers. Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones rendered this modern subject in a rapid, painterly style, paying particular attention to effects of light and atmosphere. Her early work often represented women in the modern city: nursemaids at home, women strolling in the park, shoppers, and store clerks. Strongly influenced by artist William Merritt Chase, Sparhawk-Jones’s painting constitutes a highly personal vision that drew from both Realism and Impressionism.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1911
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 99 × 84.2 cm (38 15/16 × 33 1/8 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones

Artist

Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones

Painting

Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones was an American painter and printmaker active from the early twentieth century through the 1960s. Working primarily in oil and watercolor, she developed a distinctive approach to landscape and figurative subjects that integrated modernist compositional strategies with a refined attention to light and atmosphere. Her work has been held by institutional collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

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