Charles Shannon (1863-1937) was born in Sleaford Lincolnshire. He studied wood engraving at the Lambeth School of Art where he met his lifelong partner Charles Ricketts. Together with Sturge Moore, the three formed the Vale Press (1894-1904) which produced forty-eight books notable for their fine design and quality. Ricketts and Shannon moved into Whistler’s House in the Vale, Chelsea. Oscar Wilde said of the place, ‘A house where you will never be bored.’ Shannon and Ricketts produced a number of engravings for Wilde’s books, including The House of Pomegranates (1891). Both Ricketts and Shannon were highly literary in outlook, sharing a common aestheticism. They established a fine collection of Japanese prints and had a love of eighteenth-century France. Their Oriental Collection was left to the British Museum and their drawings and other objects to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Shannon was a member of the Society of Twelve and was elected ARA in 1911 and RA in 1921. The British Museum, and Victoria and Albert Museum hold examples of his work.

“The Mermaid”
1918
Lithograph printed in blue
10 inches X 10.5 inches (sight)
Signed in pencil: “Charles Shannon, No. 91”
Modern frame

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“The Infancy of Bacchus”
1897
Lithograph printed in blue
10.25 inches X 10.25 inches
Signed in pencil: “Charles Shannon”
Modern frame

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“The Snow – Winter” (fan design)
1907
Lithograph printed in blue
only state
10.25 inches X 18 inches (sight)
Signed in pencil: “Charles Shannon, No. 73”
Modern frame

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“The Bath’’
1905
Lithograph printed in gray
13.5 inches X 14 inches (sight)
Signed in pencil: “C. H. Shannon”
Modern frame