Stuart Shils

A Glance across DoonfeenyFields, 1997
oil on paper mounted on board
Gift of Dr. Frank Mainzerer

Stuart Shils is well known for his small oils on paper of Philadelphia cityscapes and Irish landscapes. These works, which function more as metaphor than description, are executed with a virtuosity of brushstroke and paint handling. Seemingly simple, Shils’ paintings reflect his profound study of the history of art and his influences range from Corot, Constable, and Turner to Joan Mitchell and Howard Hodgkin. 

Justin Spring has observed: “The formal preoccupations of Shils' paintings are quintessentially those of New York School painters: namely, paint quality and surface texture, materials and process. Coming close to look at the work, one is more aware of its surface: one can't help noticing the delicate impasto, the lyrical nature of the brushstrokes as they play over the surface of the image. Fellow painters will notice immediately that there's something specifically challenging in the artist's chosen medium: a primed sheet of paper dictates a very different sort of painting than a robust and forgiving canvas. Shils can't ‘play’ with an image too much, can't scrub things out and start over; if he does, the image is compromised; a ‘deadness’ or ‘flatness’ sets in. The rules of Shils' game are strict, and the stakes very high. Mastery, control: by Shils' account, the strictness of the challenge increases the pleasure of success. When every brushstroke counts, getting a painting ‘right’ is an incredible satisfaction, which may perhaps account for the joy and vigor which seem to animate even the most moody of his finished works.”

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