In addition to paintings, lithographs and a few etchings, Charles Shannon produced a series of twelve chiaroscuro woodcuts, which are sometimes believed to have been completed around 1898 when they were exhibited in E.J. van Wisselingh's Dutch Gallery in December 1898. However, the catalogue for that exhibition only mentions six, and the assumption that the other six were also exhibited at that time is incorrect.
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| Charles Shannon, 'Pegasus' (woodcut, 1898) [British Museum 1905,0826.6] [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license] |
Coral Snatchers
Fruit Pickers
December
The Oven
Another review, ‘The World of Art’, had appeared in The Glasgow Herald on 5 December 1898 and in this article three titles were mentioned (all listed in the catalogue): 'the beautiful cameo-like series of oval cuts printed in two colours on tinted paper – "Pegasus," "The Coral Snatchers," "The Oven," &c.'
A year later, in December 1899, the Catalogue of the Sixth Exhibition of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society also listed a couple of the Shannon woodcuts: 'Coral Snatchers', 'The Oven', 'Pegasus', 'Fruit Pickers', 'December' and 'Dead Leaves', exactly the same as had been shown the year before. None of the other six woodcut was mentioned or shown.
This is not a coincidence, it simply points to the fact that the other six woodcuts did not yet exist.
On 3 December 1898 the poets and playwrights Katharine Bradley and Edith Cooper (who wrote under the name Michael Field) went to visit the exhibition. They too saw the series of roundel woodcuts and mentioned some titles: in their diary entry:
The Coral-snatchers bring up their branches from the tragic darkness from wh: all labour must deliver wealth [...] Michael buys Shannon's Pegasus for me.
At first glance, it may be difficult to determine when the second series was created, although we are not entirely in the dark. Firstly, there is a catalogue from 1903, when John Baillie exhibited work by Ricketts, Shannon and Mrs L. Murray Robertson in his gallery at One Princes Terrace. Listed are eight of the twelve woodcuts:
Dead Leaves
The Oven
Fruit Pickers
The Garden Plot
Coral Divers
The Porch
December
Pegasus
This catalogue introduced two new works: ‘The Garden Plot’ and ‘The Porch’.
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| Charles Shannon, 'The Porch' (woodcut, 1901) [British Museum 1905,0826.6] [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license] |
Probably, these had been executed two years earlier, seen a diary note by Michael Field, who, at the time, were very close to Ricketts and Shannon. On 8 November 1901 they wrote about a dinner at their home attended by Ricketts and Shannon:
During the afternoon Shannon's six latest woodcuts had arrived from the framer's & were laid in the embrowning sunset. Now Shannon puts them as they are to be hung. Then we sit in the Whiter Room – the Artists on the little settee as close as they hang their pictures – we in full range, with our 'gemmy' creatures flashing on our silks
Here we clearly read that the second half of the series was completed at the end of 1901, although no titles are mentioned. This claim was later endorsed by Ricketts when, in 1913, he wrote to E.F. Strang, Keeper of the Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design of the Victoria & Albert Museum about their work.
I think you should mention in the case of our prints that Daphnis & Chloe was published 20 years ago. The print of the feast contains the portraits of the wood engravers Ricketts, Shannon, T. S. Moore, Pissar[r]o & Savage in fact all the original wood cutters of the time I think. Shannons Chiaroscuro prints were done in two batches the first set 18 years ago the second book about 15 or 14 years ago. I thought of this on seeing two of Shannon's old lithos at Kensington dating back 20 & 15 years near prints done a few months ago. How time flies!