Debra Force Fine Art is pleased to present Seeking Beauty: Paintings by James Jebusa Shannon, an exhibition of twenty paintings featuring the work of an artist who was one of the most highly sought portraitists of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Originally from rural upstate New York, James Jebusa Shannon (1862-1923) studied in London between 1878 and 1881 at what is now the Royal College of Art, and quickly rose in the highly competitive ranks of portrait painting, encouraged by the support of Queen Victoria herself, whose portrait he painted.

Like his esteemed colleagues, John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler, Shannon was well connected to the highest level of the artistic establishment, and he painted prominent members of society both in America and abroad. He was a member of the Royal Academy and other esteemed institutions and exhibited widely, winning gold medals at the prestigious Paris Exposition Universelle in 1889, the Pan-American Exposition in 1901, and the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904, among others. While his portraits have generally resided in institutions or descended in the families of his sitters, Seeking Beauty includes paintings that have remained in his own family, and most have never been seen publicly. Featuring family members, friends, and genre scenes, they offer an intimate look into the artist’s personal life.

Highlights from the exhibition include Spot Red (1896), a unique portrait for the period, featuring a woman holding a billiard cue and ball, a formal full-length portrait of Mrs. Harold Burke, wearing a splendid floral dress in a sumptuous interior, and an outdoor tea party on the grounds of the family farm in Kent.

The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue by Dr. Barbara Dayer Gallati. Exhibition hours are Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturdays in May, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (closed Memorial Day weekend). Debra Force Fine Art is located at 13 East 69th Street, Suite 4F, New York, NY 10021. For more information, please call 212-734-3636 or email info@debraforce.com.

Seeking Beauty: Paintings by James Jebusa Shannon,

 May 1st – June 30, 2014,

at Debra Force Fine Art.