Glackens was an American realist painter and one of the founders of the Ashcan School of American art.
He began his career in the early 1890s working as a newspaper illustrator in Philadelphia.
In 1904, Glackens married Edith Dimock, a trained painter and daughter of a wealthy textile manufacturer from Connecticut. Berman, in the accompanying catalog, writes, “Her independent income made it possible for the young couple to live far more lavishly than they would have on Glackens’s earnings alone.
Four years later, Glackens fully established his reputation as a leading American painter when he participated with seven other artists (four were also from Philadelphia) in a show at Macbeth Galleries in New York, which rather defiantly allowed these “progressive artists” to “show and sell their work.”
Those who participated became known as “The Eight,” even though it was the only time that the group exhibited together. Significantly, this is the first time since that landmark event that six of the seven works submitted by Glackens are seen under one roof (the location of the seventh canvas remains unknown today).
From that historic show, “At Mouquin’s” and “The Shoppers” are two masterpieces, which generously have been loaned to the Barnes to give added benefit to this retrospective. Hanging next to one another, the large canvases are showstoppers and should not be missed.
Though it may deceptively seem like a French cabaret, “At Mouquin’s” depicts the downstairs café of “the most authentic outpost of Parisian ambiance and cuisine in New York.”
“The Shoppers” is another notable gem that “portrays the temptation of modern commerce.
Glackens admired many of the progressive painters working in Paris. However, it is undeniable he had a particular fondness for Renoir, assimilating his palette, brushwork and subject matter.
In addition to an awareness of the French painter from several trips to Paris and an extended residence in France from 1925 to 1932, he would have seen dozens of Renoirs owned by Barnes and displayed at his friend’s home in Merion. This shared admiration of the Impressionist painter was another important aspect of their relationship.
As a realist, he judiciously used details, like stylish clothing, to help convey the narrative. Barnes perceptively understood Glackens “shows with detachment the essential picturesqueness and humanity of the events represented.” Yet, in his later years, still life subjects took on greater significance for the painter, possibly reflecting thoughts of his own mortality.
In 1937, a year before Glackens’ death, Barnes prophetically wrote to Edith, “Don’t worry that Willie is not yet appreciated: he is in the best company in our gallery. ... A hundred years from now, I’ll let you peek down on earth with me and you’ll be satisfied with the position he holds with the stars.”
On May 22, 1938, the day of her husband’s death, Edith, in a letter from Westport, Connecticut, took time to write Barnes and share her sad news that “Willie’s” last words were, “I want to finish this newspaper article.”
“He died as peacefully as he had lived.”