American Art Collaborative

Walter Shirlaw was a painter and illustrator who studied in Munich, Germany, where he met and befriended Frank Duveneck. Shirlaw was a founder and first president of the Society of American Artists, and a teacher at the Art Students League in New York. In Munich, Duveneck learned the technique of painting a face in lighter tones against a dark background to heighten the psychological power of a portrait. Here, Shirlaw’s direct gaze and firmly set lips convey a no-nonsense personality. Duveneck captured the reflections of light in Shirlaw’s enormous, liquid eyes with dabs of pigment brushed directly into areas of still-wet paint