Documenting America: Scenes of Early-Century New York City Life in Paintings of John French Sloan

Sunday Women, Drying Their Hair, 1912

John French Sloan (August 2, 1871 – September 7, 1951) was an American painter and etcher. He is considered to be one of the founders of the Ashcan school of American art.

Documenting city life with an unflinching eye, John Sloan’s realism was part of an early 20th-century revolution in American art. Turning their backs on the refined subjects and styles of traditional art, the members of The Eight, commonly known as the Ashcan School, captured the everyday experiences of modern life.

Sloan was central to the group’s formation, and as an agitator for free artistic expression and new exhibition spaces, he was critical in bringing this new style to the public’s attention. Along with Robert Henri, Sloan brought American art to both national and international acclaim.

h/t: flashbak

McSorley’s Bar painted in 1912

The Lafayette. A favorite haunt for Sloan and his friends was the Hotel Lafayette, located at Ninth Street and University Place in New York’s Greenwich Village.

Sixth Avenue and Thirtieth Street, New York City, 1907

Sun and Wind on the Roof, 1915

Pigeons – John Sloan – 1910

The City from Greenwich Village, 1922

Chinese Restaurant, 1909

Red Kimono on the Roof, 1912

Dust Storm, Fifth Avenue, 1906

Six O’Clock, Winter, 1912

Yeats at Petitpas’, 1910-1914

Reading in the Subway, 1926

Travelling carnival Santa Fe, 1934

Sunbathers on the roof, 1941

Turning Out the Light, from New York City Life, 1905

Self-portrait, 1890