Background
Nelson Shanks (born John Nelson Shanks) was born on December 23, 1937 in Rochester, New York, United States. He lived in Wilmington, Delaware for most of his childhood.
Shanks studied at the Art Students League in New York City.
Shanks studied at the National Academy of Design in New York City.
Shanks studied at the Kansas City Art Institute.
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Nelson Shanks (born John Nelson Shanks) was born on December 23, 1937 in Rochester, New York, United States. He lived in Wilmington, Delaware for most of his childhood.
Shanks studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and in New York City at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League. At New York's Art Students League, he earned his tuition serving as a monitor in classes taught by Robert Brackman, Ivan Olinsky and Edwin Dickinson. He studied privately with John Koch and Henry Hensche. Grants from the Greenshields Foundation and the Stacey Foundation allowed him to study in Florence with Pietro Annigoni at the Accademia de Belle Arti.
After completing his education, Shanks taught on the faculty of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Art Students League, National Academy of Design, George Washington University and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, among others. He established an apprentice program at his Bucks County home and studio, where artists received room, board and instruction at no cost. In the late 1990s, he launched a successful series of workshops in response to the growing need for serious art instruction.
As a painter, he was known for his portrait of Diana, Princess of Wales which was completed in 1996. The painting was first shown at Hirschl & Adler Gallery in New York City, April 24 to June 28, 1996. His other commissions included John Paul II, President Ronald Reagan, President Bill Clinton, and Luciano Pavarotti. Throughout his career, Shanks painted nearly every day of the year - landscape, still life, the figure and portraits.
Besides, his work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, District of Columbia, the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Kensington Palace in London and Fortezza Firmafede in Sarzana, Italy.
In 2002, Shanks and his wife founded Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - an academy dedicated to the study, practice and spread of realist art using the philosophy and techniques espoused by Shanks.
During the summer and fall of 2011, he had solo exhibitions in Russia at the Russian Museum, St. Petersburg and the Russian Academy of Art, Moscow. Other exhibition of Shanks' work at museums and galleries have included the National Academy of Design; Hirschl & Adler Galleries; Coe Kerr and FAR Galleries in New York; Dayton Art Institute; the Butler Institute of American Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Philadelphia Art Alliance; the New Jersey State Museum; the National Gallery of Art; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Oklahoma University; the University of Pennsylvania; Temple University, Jefferson University, Johns Hopkins University; the College of William and Mary; the Allentown Art Museum, the Palmer Museum of Art; George Washington University; the University of the Arts; Oglethorpe University Museum; LaSalle University; the Royal Palace, Stockholm; Kensington Palace, London; and the historic Filoli Estate, California.
Nelson Shanks died of prostate cancer at his home in Andalusia, Pennsylvania on August 28, 2015 at the age of 77.
Shanks was a realist, attempting to capture the essence of his subjects through acute observation and technical skill. Whether the subject was still life, landscape or figurative, the work was meant to evoke emotion and challenge the viewer to make close examination.
Quotations: "The Realistic painting must be nothing less than a meditation on the nature of existence and the individual. It must create likeness with the power to kindle the observer's imagination and awaken memories.... It must encompass all that the Realist painter sees before his eyes and therefore feels in his heart."
Shanks was an honorary member of the American Society of Classical Realism Guild of Artists.
Nelson Shanks was married to Leona McShea Shanks.