The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Location History:
The painting is currently part of the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. It was acquired by the museum in 1939, where it remains in the collection today. It has also been exhibited internationally, including in the 2023 exhibition Maestras at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid.
Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones’s The Shoe Shop depicts a busy interior of an early twentieth-century shoe shop, which is filled almost entirely with women. Rather than creating a single well-defined composition out of the figures, Sparhawk-Jones makes the image busy and dynamic, suggesting that the figures are crammed in the same space. Some of the women are paying customers while others are assisting them, making it difficult to distinguish between the two at first glance. Their bodies are bunched together in such a way that it becomes unclear who exactly is interacting with whom. This creates a sense of motion, implying that the viewer has wandered accidentally into the shop.
Numerous muted whites, creams, browns and blacks dominate the image, with only occasional splashes of warmer red and oranges adding visual interest. The women’s clothes and hats are the main structural elements of the composition. Two of the women in the centre seem to be fitted for shoes while an assistant attends to them. A woman in a large decorated hat on the left is the most conspicuous part of the picture, drawing the eye in with her dark clothing. Other figures lean close to a customer on the right, crowding around her. The space between the two sides is divided by a large white and pale vertical structure.
Sparhawk-Jones’s brushwork is loose and energetic, with individual elements blended together so that nothing stands out. This gives the image a sense of immediacy, as if the moment had been captured accidentally. As such, the painting practices Impressionism’s approach of exploring modern life through depicting everyday moments.
What makes the work remarkable is its focus on women. The early twentieth century was a period during which shopping was becoming an important part of the urban woman’s life, and department stores and shops were among the first places to reflect this shift. Women shopped and were employed as assistants in such establishments. The two groups are brought together in The Shoe Shop in such a way that it becomes unclear who belongs to which at first. Even the clothing the women wear supposed an indicator of their status and background is bled together because of the way Sparhawk-Jones’s has painted them. As such, The Shoe Shop provides a look into a different kind of women’s lives, reflecting elements of their social and cultural history as well as offering insight into American modernity at the very beginning of the twentieth century.
Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones’s The Shoe Shop (1911) captures the bustling energy of the modern department store through loose, expressive brushwork and vibrant colour.
The blurred forms and dynamic composition convey both the excitement and exhaustion of shopping, while bringing working women and middle-class consumers into the same visual space.
Beyond everyday commerce, the painting subtly explores changing female roles, class relations, and women’s growing presence in the modern urban world.
