Painted in the 1930s, Shad Fishermen demonstrates Folinsbee’s eye for composition, using the roof of the shack and the angles of unused oars at left to lead one’s eyes to the action of the scene, where two figures wrestle with their nets in anticipation of the coming storm. It is also rendered with the broad brushstrokes and dramatic palette he adopted when focusing on similar work- and industrial-type themes common to the Delaware River region in the 1930s. 

More information about this painting...

Folinsbee earned numerous awards throughout his very prolific career from venues including the Salmagundi Club, the Pennsylvania Academy, the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, the National Arts Club, and several prizes from the National Academy alone between 1916 and 1952. Museums eagerly acquired examples of his work during his lifetime, and today his paintings can be found in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art in Maine, and the Dallas Museum of Art, among many others.

Provenance:

By descent through the family of the artist

Inscription:

(top stretcher in pen) 2080/C / Newman Galleries / 7/15/01

Labels:

1. Property of / John F. Folinsbee / Art Trust / B31
2. Newman Galleries / John Fulton Folinsbee (1892-1972) / “Shad Fishermen” / oil on canvas / 24 x 30 inches / 20801c