William Glackens

William Glackens began as a painter of dark, crowded city scenes and ended as one of America’s most colourful Impressionists, often compared to Renoir. His later pictures of beaches, parks, dancers and women in bright dresses are all soft, feathery brushwork and warm colour.

He was born in Philadelphia in 1870, studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and worked as a newspaper illustrator. He was a member of The Eight and one of the founders of the Ashcan School of American realism. His At Mouquin’s (1905), set in a New York restaurant, is in the Art Institute of Chicago. He died in 1938. The NSU Art Museum in Fort Lauderdale holds the largest collection of his work.

Dancer in a Pink Dress and Dancer in Blue show his later, brighter manner.