| Charles Verschuuren (1891-1955) brought the 1920s and 30s spirit of New York to the covers of the Brooklyn Eagle's Sunday Magazine every week from 1924 to 1933 in a dazzling, humorous style, capturing the heart of the Jazz Age. As an immigrant from the Netherlands in 1922, Verschuuren was captivated by the soaring architecture, diversity and pace of New York. His covers focused on a cast of characters headed by the newly liberated woman and her counterpart, the male collegian. The imagery deftly incorporated these characters and the feeling of America through scenes of sports, holidays, historical events, and popular entertainment. Through Verschuuren's illustrations, Eagle readers were able to share in his wonderment and humor of urban life as he became a New Yorker. Today's viewers continue to be enchanted by his nostalgic Art Deco iconography. Verschuuren's work has been displayed both here and abroad, his posters and drawings exhibited in the collections of the Stedilijik Museum, the Netherlands Theatre Institute, and in a travelling exhibition of war images organized by the International Foundation for the Injured and Prisoners of War. In New York, his work was seen at various venues, from Columbia University, to the Independent Artists Show at Grand Central Palace, to the Maurel Gallery alongside works by Degas, Monet and Everett Shinn. While working for the U.S. Photographic Center in Long Island City, he befriended fellow New York artist Charles Addams. The editors of the Brooklyn Eagle, which Joseph Pulitzer wrote was "one of the foremost newspapers in the nation" saw in Verschuuren an amazing talent that captured the changing face of America during the Jazz Age. |
