Everett Shinn

This sheet by Everett Shinn is a study for an illustration to Charles Dickens's "The Mystery Edwin Drood." This novel, begun in 1869, was to be Dickens's last, and remained unfinished at the time the author's death in 1870. Dickens's intended this work to be published serially in twelve installment's illustrated by Luke Fildes (1843-1927), though only six were completed by the time of his passing. In 1941, the Heritage Club of New York published a definitive edition of Dickens's text, edited by Vincent Starrett and illustrated by Everett Shinn. In addition to his more famous work as a painter, Shinn also worked as a theater designer and art director, and years earlier had written a play based upon Dickens's novel with the British-American playwright Guy Bolton (1884-1979). Along with the stage play, Shinn also designed the sets and costumes. The artist was conseqeuntly recommended for the Heritage edition by Alexander Woollcoott, a famed radio personality and drama critic at The New Yorker. For the publication, Shinn produced twenty-three pen and ink drawings, one to decorate the beginning of each chapter. In addition, Shinn produced eight watercolors. Departing from his contemporary realist style, Shinn's illustrations here evoke earlier periods of history, with a great deal of attention given to the details of costume, furniture, and architecture. The Morgan's sheet represents a character and costume study of John Jasper, the central character of Dickens's mystery.
Related literature: Charles Dickens, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, ed.Vincent Starrett; illus.Everett Shinn (New York: The Heritage Press, 1941); Everett Shinn: Watercolors-Drawings, Illustrations for Charles Dickens' "Mystery of Edwin Drood" February 10 - March 7 1959, Davis Galleries; "The Mystery of a Mystery," The Heritage Club Sandglass, Number 5e (New York 1941), n.p.