Woman with Mirror by Howard Thain (Texas, 1891-1959), oil on canvas laid on board, professionaly cleaned, signed, circa 1920s-1930s, framed - 25” x 21”
 
Howard Thain was born in Dallas. Vivian Aunspaugh was his first teacher. Around 1912, he began studies at the Washington University School of the Arts. He also studied at the Chicago Art Institute. In 1919, he enrolled in the Art Students League and studied under Frank Vincent DuMond, Robert Henri, and John Sloan. Thain described his stay in New York as a time he spent every moment he could in the streets recording the city and its people “who to my provincial eye seemed incredibly interesting and exotic.” His brief but prolific painting career perfectly coincided with New York’s tumultuous and booming period before the Great Depression. Thain’s contemplative paintings reveal him as a thoughtful observer of the city, writ both large and small. A disciple of American realism, Thain’s work carried on the tradition of the Ashcan School with its subjects from everyday city life, while anticipating the urban manifestation of the American Scene movement of the 1930s. He recorded the city’s gleaming architecture, its transportation hubs, its gathering places, and their inhabitants. His work ranges from subtle irony in his views of affluent New Yorkers in opulent settings, to carefree humor as he sketched city kids entertaining each other with backyard vaudevillian antics.