Honoré Desmond Sharrer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Honoré Desmond Sharrer
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Honoré Sharrer, photograph by W. Eugene Smith
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| Born | July 12, 1920 West Point, New York, United States
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| Died | April 17, 2009 (aged 88) |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Yale University San Francisco Art Institute |
| Known for | Painting |
Honoré Desmond Sharrer (born July 12, 1920 – died April 17, 2009) was an American artist. She became famous in 1950 for her painting Tribute to the American Working People. This large artwork has five parts, like an old church altarpiece. But instead of a saint, it shows a factory worker in the middle. Around the worker are scenes of everyday people: at a picnic, in a living room, on a farm, and in a school.
Sharrer painted this work very carefully with oil paints. It took her five years to finish. The painting is over six feet long and three feet high. It looks a bit like paintings from the Flemish Masters, who were famous artists from the Netherlands and Belgium long ago. This painting was part of a special show at the Smithsonian Institution in 2007. You can now see it in the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Her work Workers and Paintings (1943) was shown in a famous exhibit called "Fourteen Americans" in 1946. This show was at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It featured new and rising artists like Robert Motherwell and Isamu Noguchi. The show is often remembered for introducing a new art style called abstract expressionism. However, it also included artists like Sharrer and George Tooker, who painted in a more realistic way.
Sharrer and her painting Man at Fountain were featured in Life Magazine on March 20, 1950. This magazine story highlighted "Nineteen Young American Artists." Unlike many artists of her time, Sharrer did not switch to abstract expressionism. She continued to paint in a detailed, realistic style. Her art often showed clever and sometimes funny ideas. Her later works are sometimes called Magic Realism. This style mixes real-life scenes with dream-like or surprising elements.
Early Life and Education
Honoré Desmond Sharrer was born in West Point, New York. Her father, Robert Allen Sharrer, was an Army officer. He worked at the United States Military Academy. Her mother, Madeleine Sachs, was also a painter. Honoré grew up in many places, including the Philippines, Paris, and several American cities. She finished high school at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, California.
When she was 18, Sharrer won a national art prize. About 230,000 people entered the contest, which was sponsored by The American Magazine. After that, she studied art at Yale University and the California School of Fine Arts. This school is now called the San Francisco Art Institute. During World War II, she worked as a welder. She helped build ships in California and New Jersey.
In 1947, Sharrer married Perez Zagorin. He was a well-known historian. They lived in many cities, including New York, London, and Rochester, New York. They had one son, Adam Zagorin, who was born in 1953.
Her Art Style
After a solo art show in Boston in 1951, Honoré Sharrer did not have another one until 1969. She had another solo show in 1987. It traveled from New York City to Rochester, New York, and Framingham, Massachusetts.
Even though she worked hard and painted all the time, her art was sometimes overlooked. This happened because "modern art" often meant abstract expressionism during that time. Many people thought modern art had to be abstract.
Sharrer used very careful painting methods. She used bright colors and paid close attention to small details. This made her art look like the old Flemish painters. But her ideas and subjects were very modern. For example, her painting Resurrection of a Waitress (1984) shows a funny side. It also suggests that the life of a waitress or a working person is just as important as a saint's life. This idea was also in her Tribute painting.
One of her biggest paintings is Leda and the Folks (1963). It is a surreal oil painting on canvas, measuring 9 by 6 feet. This painting is displayed at the Smith College Museum of Art in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was part of a show called A Dangerous Woman: Subversion & Surrealism in the Art of Honoré Sharrer. The museum explains that Sharrer was interested in how old myths mixed with the celebrity culture of the 1960s. This included famous people like Elvis Presley.
Another interesting late painting is A Dream of Monticello (1996). In this painting, a woman is relaxing with headphones on. She has one red shoe on and one off. In the background, you can see Thomas Jefferson and other figures. There are also two tall monuments and a clock that looks like something from a dream. A beautiful silver pitcher, known to be from Monticello, is in the front.
Awards and Recognition
Honoré Sharrer received many awards for her artistic achievements:
- 1951: Norman Waite Harris Medal and Prize, Art Institute of Chicago
- 1971: Childe Hassam Purchase Prize, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, NY
- 1978: Childe Hassam Purchase Prize, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, NY
- 1981: Lillian Fairchild Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts, University of Rochester, NY
- 1984: Gladys Emerson Cook Prize, National Academy of Design, NY
- 1987: Award for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Arts, National Women's Caucus for Art
- 2000: Prize for Outstanding Accomplishment in Painting, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, NY
Where Her Art Is Kept
Honoré Sharrer's paintings are part of the permanent collections in many museums and institutions. Some of these include:
- Columbus Museum of Art, OH
- Danforth Museum, Framingham, MA
- Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
- Museum of Modern Art, NY
- Newark Museum, NJ
- San Diego Museum of Art, CA
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
- Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA
- University of Rochester, NY
- Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
- University of Virginia Art Museum
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