Will Shuster


William Howard Shuster Jr. was an American painter, sculptor and teacher.

Youth

[file:the Eve of Saint Francis.png|alt=six hooded figures walk rightwards bathed in a dim yellow light from an unseen source|thumb|upright=1.1|The Eve of Saint Francis, 1922]
Shuster was born November 26, 1893, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the second of three children.
He served in the U.S. Army during World War I in France, where he developed tuberculosis after being gassed. He would receive a disability pension thereafter.

New Mexico

[file:New Mexico Snow Country.jpg|alt=hilly, snowy landscape in muted blues, whites, greys and browns|thumb|New Mexico Snow Country, 1921]
In 1920, Shuster moved to New Mexico to improve his health and became friends with the small but growing arts community. Shuster made money doing ironwork and painting to supplement the pension. In 1921, he became a member of Los Cinco Pintores, and showed throughout Santa Fe and the rest of the country with the group.

Oeuvre

[file:John Sloan by Will Shuster.jpg|alt=portrait of a man with arms crossed holding a pipe in the left hand|thumb|Portrait of John Sloan, 1928]
His artwork is in the permanent collections of the Stark Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Delaware Art Museum, Newark Museum, and New Mexico Museum of Art.