William James Glackens Enter a
feeling, not
a gallery.
Choose a mood and the room itself answers — the light cools or warms, the air changes pace, and only the works that carry that feeling step forward from the dark. Everything else recedes into shadow.
William James Glackens
Early Life, Family and Training Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1870, William James Glackens entered a world shaped by the steady industry of his parents, Elizabeth Finn Glackens and Samuel Glackens, a clerk for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Artistic inclination ran through the family; his older brother, Louis, born in 1866, would eventually find his own way as an illustrator. The young Glackens began his formal education at Central
High School, an institution noted for its rigorous art program, which provided the foundation for his developing eye. His formal training moved from the classroom to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. It was here that he came under the tutelage of Thomas Anshutz, a realist whose influence helped shape the direction of his early work. This period of study was essential in refining the technical skills that would later define h…