William J. Glackens
b. 1870, Philadelphia, PA; d. 1938, Westport, CT
Born in Philadelphia, William J. Glackens (1870-1938) studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts while working as an illustrator for the Philadelphia Record, the Public Ledger, and The Philadelphia Press. He traveled to Paris in 1895 and shared a studio for more than a year with Robert Henri. Glackens then settled in New York, where he illustrated for the Herald, and the Sunday World. In 1898, McClure's Magazine sent him to Cuba to illustrate the Spanish-American War.
Glackens married artist Edith Dimock in 1904, and they had two children.
Influenced by Henri, Glackens, George Luks, Everett Shinn, and John Sloan painted realistic scenes of urban life, which became known as the Ashcan school. Along with more romantic painters Arthur B. Davies, Ernest Lawson, and Maurice Prendergast, the artists were called The Eight when they exhibited at the Macbeth Gallery in 1908 in protest of the restrictive exhibition policies of the National Academy of Design.
In 1912, Albert Barnes sent Glackens to France to purchase contemporary paintings by Paul Cézanne, Édouard Manet, Henri Matisse, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Glackens was chairman of the committee that selected American art for the historic 1913 Armory Show that presented modernist paintings to the public.
As Glackens divided his time between New York, Connecticut and France, his palette and subject matter changed from the dark colors of working-class urban life scenes to bright hues of outdoor scenes. He died in 1938.
Glackens work is owned by the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Phillips Collection, among others. The largest collection of his art—about 500 items—is at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale.
Visit William J. Glackens Research Collection and Study Center for more information on the artist, the collection, and related exhibtions and artists.
Lectures and Documentaries about Glackens and his work:
- William J. Glackens Documentary
- Glackens on Paper: From San Juan Hill to Washington Square, 2019: a lecture by Carol Troyen, the Kristin and Roger Servison Curator Emerita of American Paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The lecture explores William Glackens' development as a draftsman between 1895 and 1915.
