Charles Eugene Shannon (June 22, 1914 – April 5, 1996) was an American artist and professor. Shannon is recognized for his discovery, promotion and conservation of the works of the artist

Bill Traylor William Traylor (April 1, – October 23, 1949) was an African-American self-taught artist from Lowndes County, Alabama. Born into slavery, Traylor spent the majority of his life after emancipation as a sharecropper. It was only after 19 ...

, who he met in 1939 in Montgomery,

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

Early life and education

Shannon was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1914. He studied at

Emory University Emory University is a private university, private research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded in 1836 as Emory College by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory. Its main campu ...

for two years, and then at the

Cleveland School of Art The Cleveland Institute of Art, previously Cleveland School of Art, is a private college focused on art and design and located in Cleveland, Ohio. History The college was founded in 1882 as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women, at f ...

from 1932 to 1936.

Art career

In 1939 he received a fellowship from the

Julius Rosenwald Foundation The Rosenwald Fund (also known as the Rosenwald Foundation, the Julius Rosenwald Fund, and the Julius Rosenwald Foundation) was established in 1917 by Julius Rosenwald and his family for "the well-being of mankind." Rosenwald became part-owner of S ...

to paint subjects in the American South. Shannon was an originator of the Socialist Realist New South School and Gallery, which was founded in 1939 in his log cabin studio in Butler County, Alabama. The mission of the school was to "broaden cultural life of Southerners of all classes and develop a wider market in the South for arts and crafts". Shannon taught painting and drawing at the school. In 1940, he was an artist in residence at the West Georgia College, now known as the University of West Georgia. He later worked in the South Pacific as a US Army artist correspondent during the second world war. Shannon is credited with discovering the artist Bill Traylor, who he met in 1939 while Traylor was selling drawings on the street in Montgomery, Alabama. Shannon bought art supplies for Traylor, who was at the time homeless, and gave him his first show, titled ''Bill Traylor: People’s Artist'', at the New South Gallery. Shannon bought much of Traylor's work for as little as five cents per drawing. In 1982 he sold about 30 of Traylor's drawings to the High Museum of Art for $10,000 US dollars. Shannon was sued in 1992 by Traylor's heirs, who claimed Shannon had improperly obtained Traylor's work. The suit was settled in 1993, with Shannon agreeing to transfer a dozen of Traylor's works, then valued at $10,000 to $25,000 US dollars each, to Traylor's heirs. Both parties released a joint statement that recognized Shannon's contribution to Traylor's fame. A curator at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Margaret Lynne Ausfeld, has said of Shannon's efforts that “Without Charles Shannon, there would have been little or nothing to interpret—most or all of the work certainly would have been lost”. Shannon founded the art department at

Auburn University Montgomery Auburn University at Montgomery (AUM) is a public university in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. Governed by the Auburn University Board of Trustees as a member of the Auburn University system, it was established by an act of the Alabama Le ...

, where he taught from 1969 until his retirement in 1979. His work is included in the collections of the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM; 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 one of the world's lar ...

, the

Morris Museum of Art The Morris Museum of Art is an art museum in Augusta, Georgia. It was established in 1985 as a non-profit foundation by William S. Morris III, publisher of The Augusta Chronicle, in memory of his parents, as the first museum dedicated to the coll ...

and the

Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts is a museum located in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, featuring several art collections. The permanent collection includes examples of 19th- and 20th-century American paintings and sculpture, Southern regional art, O ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shannon, Charles 1914 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American artists Artists from Alabama Auburn University faculty Emory University alumni