Symeon Shimin (1902 in

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

-1984 in

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) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

born American

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

Russian Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...

descent. He was principally known as an artist of

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

Film Posters and as an award-winning illustrator of 57 children's books including two that he authored himself, ''I wish there were two of me'' and ''A special birthday''. His fine art, developed throughout his life, includes the highly acclaimed mural ''Contemporary Justice and The Child'' created in 1936, that took four years to complete. Other notable work includes the painting ''The Pack'' that he completed in 1959.

Life

Shimin was born in

, on the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

, in 1902. In 1912 his

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, settling in Brooklyn, N.Y. They opened a delicatessen and lived in two small rooms behind their shop. In 1918, at 16 years old, Shimin apprenticed himself to a commercial artist to help support his family. He attended art classes at

Cooper Union School of Art The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

at night and spent a brief period at the studio of

George Luks George Benjamin Luks (August 13, 1867 – October 29, 1933) was an American artist, identified with the aggressively realistic Ashcan School of American painting. After travelling and studying in Europe, Luks worked as a newspaper illustrator a ...

Early career 1919–1936

In his early career, Shimin worked as a freelance commercial artist. In 1929 he illustrated the January cover of

Vanity Fair Magazine ''Vanity Fair'' is a monthly magazine of popular culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast in the United States. The first version of ''Vanity Fair'' was published from 1913 to 1936. The imprint was revived in 1983 and cu ...

, among others. In 1929 he embarked on a trip of 1 1/2 years to Spain and France, where he studied the works of the master artists. Shimin became a highly sought after artist painting large-scale murals for Hollywood films, creating the original poster for

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Win ...

in 1939. In other peripheral connections to the cinema world, he also worked on drawings and paintings for the promotional campaign of the 1960s

The Magnificent Seven ''The Magnificent Seven'' is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges. The screenplay by William Roberts is a remake – in an Old West–style – of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film '' Seven Samurai'' (itself initially relea ...

and had a brief stint in the early 1940s as Howard Hughes’ personal artist.

Mid career and maturity 1936–1972

In 1936, Shimin was awarded a contract by the PWAP,

Public Works of Art Project The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was a New Deal program designed to employ artists that operated from 1933 to 1934. The program was headed by Edward Bruce, under the United States Treasury Department with funding from the Civil Works Admin ...

, to paint the mural ''Contemporary Justice and the Child'' for the Department of Justice Building, Washington, DC

Illustrator of children’s books

Shimin’s work in children's books began in 1950 when friends Hermann and Nina Schneider asked him to illustrate a revised edition of their ''How Big is Big?''. He discovered that he could channel some of his feeling for the heightened state of imagination in childhood into his work. Shimin subsequently illustrated 57 books for children over three decades, including two that he also authored. ''I Wish There Were Two Of Me'' and ''Special Birthday.'' In 1974 Shimin was awarded a pair of prestigious Christopher Awards for ''Gorilla, Gorilla'', and ''A New Baby A New Life'', given to artists and producers whose works "affirm the highest values of the human spirit. Shimin was twice invited to speak at Appalachian University, which later became the site of the Symeon Shimin Papers, de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at

The University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

Italian period

In 1956, following many years of intense work on film posters and children’s books, Shimin spent six months in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

In 1959 his painting, ''Discussion Groups – Rome'', won second prize in the Provincetown Art Competition and is presently in the collection of the

Chrysler Museum of Art The Chrysler Museum of Art is an art museum on the border between downtown and the Ghent district of Norfolk, Virginia. The museum was founded in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1971, automotive heir, Walter P. Chrysler Jr. ...

in Norfolk, Virginia. Time Magazine dubbed Symeon Shimin, a “social realist painter”. One of the boldest artworks of Shimin’s oeuvre is his masterful large-scale painting titled ''The Pack'', which was exhibited at the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

—Annual Exhibition of American Art in 1959. In 1959 he also painted the 40 ft. canvas for the Hollywood film ''Solomon and Sheba'' for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Awards and citations

*Citation for War Bonds poster, United States Treasury Department, 1943 *Certificate of Merit 43rd Annual Exhibit of Advertising and Editorial Art and Design, The Art Directors Club of New York, ca. 1943 *Certificate of Merit Society of Illustrators Annual National Exhibit, 1964 *Literary and Artistic Excellence in the Creation of Books for Children citation for ''Santiago'', The Brooklyn Art Books for Children, ca. 1970 *Certificate of Award Graphic Arts Award Competition for ''Send Wendell'' illustrations, 1974. Christopher Awards for ''Gorilla, Gorilla'' and ''A New Baby A New Life'', 1974.

Exhibitions

* Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, ca. 1938 National Gallery, Washington, DC, ca. 1938 * Whitney Museum of Art Annual, New York, 1940 and 1941 *The Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC * Art Institute, Chicago, Chicago, Illinois * Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York * National Gallery, Ottawa, Canada * The Brill Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio * Provincetown Art Gallery, Massachusetts, ca. 1958 * Whitney Museum Annual Exhibition of American Art, New York 1959 *Drawings on Canvas One-Man Show, Sidney Frane Gallery, New York, 1961 * Appalachian Cultural Museum, Boone, North Carolina

Collections

*''Contemporary Justice and the Child,'' Department of Justice Building, Washington, DC *Collection of Fairleigh Dickinson University, Rutherford, New Jersey *The Symeon Shimin Papers-de Grummond Children's Literature Collection at The University of Southern Mississippi *The Betsy Beinecke Shirley collection of American children's literature at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

Gallery

File:-2. SS Family Astrakhan 1911 copy.pdf, Shimin Family, Astrakhan Russia 1911 File:-3 SS Young Man, CA 1920.tif, Shimin as a young man, 1920's CA File:-7 Vanity Fair Cover.jpg, Vanity Fair Cover, 1929 File:-5 SS CA 1920s.tif, Symeon Shimin, CA 1920's File:-6 Three Women.jpg, Three Women, cir 1929 File:-10 JIm CRow POster.jpg, Jim Crow Poster File:-11 SS Boy on Fire escape.jpg, Boy on a Fire Escape File:-15 The Pack.jpg, ''The Pack'' created in 1959, Inspired by an incident in which he was beaten up in the street. File:-12 Dance in the Desert.tif, Illustration for ''Dance in the Desert'' by Madeleine L'Engle. Created in 1969 File:-8 Mural DOJ'.jpg, The mural ''Contemporary Justice and the Child'' created by Shimin in 1936 for the Department of Justice, in Washington DC. Tempera on fiberboard. File:Studio 19602.png, Shimin's Studio File:-1 SS portrait.jpg, Symeon Shimin, Portrait

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimin, Symeon 1902 births 1984 deaths Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States American illustrators