Art Collections Online
The Rebirth of the Arts
SHANNON, Charles (1863 - 1937)
The Rebirth of the Arts - Charles Shannon
Date: 1917
Media: lithograph on paper
Acquired: 1919; Presented by Ministry of Information
Accession Number: NMW A 13163
Collection: The Great War: Britain's Efforts and Ideals
From the ruins, death and devastation of war the figure of ‘Arts’, in the form of a woman, rises up, holding a sprig of bay-leaves, a symbol of glory. A rainbow, perhaps representing hope, appears over the desolation.
Shannon, born in Quarrington, Licolnshire, is best known for his figure and portrait paintings, yet also worked as a lithographer and illustrator. From 1882 he studied wood engraving at Lambeth School of Art, where he met his lifelong partner Charles Ricketts, whom he founded and edited The Dial magazine and Vale Press with. In 1929 he became incapacitated after a fall from a ladder, ending his successful career.