Shinn: Early Morning Paris

Everett Shinn, Early Morning Paris, 1901

This guy compares to Degas in his later works when he is one of the first to go into the interior view of public spectacle, in circus tents and other indoor performances. But a year before, Early Morning Paris happened, which is much more Ashcan inspired, yet has a more pathetic and depressing vibe about it. The figure is a beggar, and his little friends are cats, the one in front of him is alive, and the one in the back is dead.

Reasons Why I like this:
The texture of the buildings has the appearance of flatness, as if the artist scraped the pastel down and then scribbled fine details over it. The colors at any rate are perfect, though the feeling of the painting is midday, definitely not early morning to me. The beggar does not seem very interesting to me, what's more interesting is when the buildings meet the right edge of the painting and form a strange atmosphere there, creating a blurred out illusion in the distance. My interest in this is in the buildings, which is unusual for me because I typically prefer representations of the figure over buildings or objects.