Joe Shannon (born 1933) is a

stateside Puerto Rican Stateside Puerto Ricans ( es, link=no, Puertorriqueños de Estados Unidos), also ambiguously known as Puerto Rican Americans ( es, link=no, puertorriqueño-americanos,), or Puerto Ricans in the United States, are Puerto Ricans who are in the U ...

artist, curator, art critic, and writer.

Education

Shannon studied art at the

Corcoran School of Art The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design (known as the Corcoran School or CSAD) is the professional art school of the George Washington University, in Washington, DC.Peggy McGloneUniversity names first director of Corcoran School of the Arts and ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...

Life

Shannon worked for nearly three decades at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...

, also in Washington, DC, as an exhibition designer and curator. Shannon also taught at the

Maryland Institute College of Art The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) is a Private university, private art school, art and design college in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1826 as the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts, making it one of t ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

and for many years was the Washington, DC art critic for ''

Art in America ''Art in America'' is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world in the United States, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It is ...

'' magazine. He worked and exhibited most of his life based out of Washington, DC, and currently lives in Glen Echo, Maryland. Shannon was born in

Lares, Puerto Rico Lares (, ) is a mountain town and municipality of Puerto Rico's central-western area. Lares is located north of Maricao and Yauco; south of Camuy, east of San Sebastián and Las Marias; and west of Hatillo, Utuado and Adjuntas. Lares is spre ...

Artwork

Shannon's paintings have been exhibited in many galleries and museums and are in the permanent collections of the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Cro ...

, the Corcoran Gallery (now closed), the

Hirshhorn Museum The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was desi ...

, the

American University Museum The American University Museum is located within the Katzen Arts Center at the American University in Washington, DC. History and description The American University Museum consists of a three-story, museum and sculpture garden. The region’ ...

, the Yellowstone Art Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. His work belongs to the representational genre of painting. The paintings often address strong sexual, mythological, and narrative themes, and issues of sex and race routinely dominate his exhibitions. '' The Washington Pos''t noted that "...Much realism nowadays is pre-digested pap, easy on the mind, easy on the eye. Shannon will have none of it. His art prohibits delectation." The ''Washington Post'' also stated that "Shannon is a masterful painter of the human figure."

Hilton Kramer Hilton Kramer (March 25, 1928 – March 27, 2012) was an American art critic and essayist. Biography Early life Kramer was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and was educated at Syracuse University, receiving a bachelor's degree in English; ...

, writing in ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', notes about Shannon and his artwork: “… But he is what he is, an artist of some independence and much energy and a furious talent who has declared his independence of everything current esthetic opinion has declared possible.” ''The New York Times'' art critic

Grace Glueck Grace Glueck (July 24, 1926 – October 8, 2022) was an American arts journalist. She worked for ''The New York Times'' from 1951 until the early 2010s. Early life Glueck was born in New York City on July 24, 1926. Her father, Ernest, worked ...

also observed that "Mr. Shannon's brisk way of painting his urban grotesqueries - he gets it all down like a born storyteller without too much fuss over how - belies their disturbing content. They don't stay with you too long, but they do evoke our age of anxiety."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shannon, Joe Living people Artists from Washington, D.C. Nude art American art critics Corcoran School of the Arts and Design alumni Artists from Maryland Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden American people of Puerto Rican descent Painters from Washington, D.C. Painters from Maryland Puerto Rican artists 1937 births People from Glen Echo, Maryland People from Lares, Puerto Rico