GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The Ashcan School was an early 20th century movement of urban-realist painters. The group was not representative of an institution, but were affiliated for the purpose of exhibitions. The term “Ashcan” was not coined until 1916, well after their inception in the first decade of the 20th century.
The leading figure of the group was Robert Henri, who studied with Thomas Anschutz, a student of Thomas Eakins, at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and then in Paris. While teaching in Philadelphia, Henri came to mentor four newspaper illustrators: William Glackens, George Luks, Everett Shinn, and John Sloan. These “Philadelphia Five” would all move to New York City by 1905 and eventually become known as the Ashcan School. A second generation of Ashcan artists consists of Henri’s New York students, most notably George Bellows.
The styles of the artists now considered part of the Ashcan School varied greatly. They were largely united by an interest in depicting the realities of urban life—a subject considered too ugly by the National Academy of Design. Henri described their art as “art for life’s sake,” rather than the “art for art’s sake” mantra popular at the time. For the most part, their styles were influenced by the dark palettes and painterly qualities of Goya and Manet. Photographers such as Jacob Riis are sometimes associated with the Ashcan School, but the painters generally employed less overt political messages in their works.
Because Henri and his students felt that the National Academy of Design was too restrictive, he organized an independent exhibition, now known as “The Eight” at the Macbeth Gallery in 1908. The exhibition was mostly well received and widely seen in New York and in many subsequent venues across the country. The Ashcan artists briefly occupied the avant-garde of American art before the rise of European modern art movements after the 1913 Armory Show.
Adapted from
- DMA unpublished materials.
- Weinberg, H. Barbara. “The Ashcan School.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ashc/hd_ashc.htm (April 2010).
NOTES
Deleting TMS tags for 1909.2; 1911.4; 1956.58
Checked Piction
Rebecca Singerman worked on this note
Left as #draft and #routed at the end of the D3C project. At Becky's request at the end of her internship, I have read and am marking the note as #complete so that it is available online for her to use as a published essay. (EAS 5/7/2019)
Term first used by Holger Cahill and Alfred Barr in Art in America (NY 1934)
1904- henri set up his own school in NY
Additional Ashcan artists- Glenn O. Coleman and Jerome Myers
(Oxford Art Online)
The Eight exhibition included- Henri, William Glackens, George Luks, Everett Shinn, John Sloan, Prendergast, Ernest Lawson, and Arthur B. Davies.
With the advent of the 20th century, American artists continued the strains of realism and romanticism present in earlier art, but turned their interests toward urban subject matter and representations of industrial America. The forerunners of 20th century painting were a group of artists, headed by Robert Henri, called The Eight or Ashcan School. They first exhibited together in 1908. Henri, who continued the tradition of realism, affected American art both through his work and his teachings. He strove for the liberation of the artist from earlier academic attitudes, preaching freedom from European domination, use of American subject matter, and a realism based on direct experience and observation of life. Henri influenced many younger artists, such as his student, George Bellows. The Eight, associated for purposes of showing their work, employed diverse styles to portray contemporary life in America, usually using urban scenes as subject matter. The significant subject matter of the 20th century art had become the city and its life.
Henri moved to NY in 1900, he was followed by other Philadelphia artists to whom he taught ideas that centered around the Ashcan School:
1. artists could seek subjects in their local environment
2. an ugly subject might make a beautiful painting (ideas that directly contradicted the National Academy of Design's formalized doctrinaire approach)
3. Style: these artists painted with broad, impasto brushstrokes, in a spontaneous, sketchy, rapid style that was radical at the time (reacting against the Academic "style")-- this "American art sprang from an ever growing sentiment of freedom, the joys of motion and the excitement of the city as an expanding world of gigantic creation...."
(Meyer Schapiro. Modern Art: 19th and 20th Centuries selectedpapers. George Braziller: New York, 1982. P.168)
From education files, material for Contemporary Extravaganza, 2000
From education file, docent notes, tour ides, general intro to American art:
Robert Macbeth, A Brief History of American Art from the Days of the Colonists to Now
pages6-7 saved from TX Portal.
Within the past ten or fifteen years a group of realists has arisen that has had great influence on many of our younger painters. It is the outgrowth of the school of Robert Henri and his associates. The aim is a frank and vigorous portrayal of life as it is, and in addition to Henri, George Luks, George Bellows, [William] Glackens, [John] Sloane and [Gifford] Beal are its foremost adherants.
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WEB RESOURCES
- The Ashcan School~Read Barbara H. Weinberg's essay on this American art movement in the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (April 2010).
- Smithsonian Institution~Check out the cartoon that inspired the name "Ashcan School."
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
- By breaking away from an established art institution and exhibiting their work in a self-determined manner, The Eight followed the example of Gustave Courbet and his Salon des Refuses. Ten years earlier, a different, numbered group of American artists declared independence from the National Academy of Design. The Ten, a group of artists closely associated with the Society of American Artists, held their first exhibition in 1898 and include leading figures in the American Impressionist movement.
- The exhibition of The Eight included the five Philadelphia Ashcan artists, in addition to Maurice Prendregast, Arthur B. Davies, and Ernest Lawson, who are not considered Ashcan artists.
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General Description
The Ashcan School was an early 20th century movement of urban-realist painters. The group was not representative of an institution, but were affiliated for the purpose of exhibitions. The term “Ashcan” was not coined until 1916, well after their inception in the first decade of the 20th century.
The leading figure of the group was Robert Henri, who studied with Thomas Anschutz, a student of Thomas Eakins, at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and then in Paris. While teaching in Philadelphia, Henri came to mentor four newspaper illustrators: William Glackens, George Luks, Everett Shinn, and John Sloan. These “Philadelphia Five” would all move to New York City by 1905 and eventually become known as the Ashcan School. A second generation of Ashcan artists consists of Henri’s New York students, most notably George Bellows.
The styles of the artists now considered part of the Ashcan School varied greatly. They were largely united by an interest in depicting the realities of urban life—a subject considered too ugly by the National Academy of Design. Henri described their art as “art for life’s sake,” rather than the “art for art’s sake” mantra popular at the time. For the most part, their styles were influenced by the dark palettes and painterly qualities of Goya and Manet. Photographers such as Jacob Riis are sometimes associated with the Ashcan School, but the painters generally employed less overt political messages in their works.
Because Henri and his students felt that the National Academy of Design was too restrictive, he organized an independent exhibition, now known as “The Eight” at the Macbeth Gallery in 1908. The exhibition was mostly well received and widely seen in New York and in many subsequent venues across the country. The Ashcan artists briefly occupied the avant-garde of American art before the rise of European modern art movements after the 1913 Armory Show.
Adapted from
- DMA unpublished materials.
- Weinberg, H. Barbara. “The Ashcan School.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ashc/hd_ashc.htm (April 2010).
Fun Facts
- By breaking away from an established art institution and exhibiting their work in a self-determined manner, The Eight followed the example of Gustave Courbet and his Salon des Refuses. Ten years earlier, a different, numbered group of American artists declared independence from the National Academy of Design. The Ten, a group of artists closely associated with the Society of American Artists, held their first exhibition in 1898 and include leading figures in the American Impressionist movement.
- The exhibition of The Eight included the five Philadelphia Ashcan artists, in addition to Maurice Prendregast, Arthur B. Davies, and Ernest Lawson, who are not considered Ashcan artists.
Archival Resources
Web Resources
- The Ashcan School~Read Barbara H. Weinberg's essay on this American art movement in the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (April 2010).
- Smithsonian Institution~Check out the cartoon that inspired the name "Ashcan School."
Notes
Deleting TMS tags for 1909.2; 1911.4; 1956.58
Checked Piction
Rebecca Singerman worked on this note
Left as #draft and #routed at the end of the D3C project. At Becky's request at the end of her internship, I have read and am marking the note as #complete so that it is available online for her to use as a published essay. (EAS 5/7/2019)
Term first used by Holger Cahill and Alfred Barr in Art in America (NY 1934)
1904- henri set up his own school in NY
Additional Ashcan artists- Glenn O. Coleman and Jerome Myers
(Oxford Art Online)
The Eight exhibition included- Henri, William Glackens, George Luks, Everett Shinn, John Sloan, Prendergast, Ernest Lawson, and Arthur B. Davies.
With the advent of the 20th century, American artists continued the strains of realism and romanticism present in earlier art, but turned their interests toward urban subject matter and representations of industrial America. The forerunners of 20th century painting were a group of artists, headed by Robert Henri, called The Eight or Ashcan School. They first exhibited together in 1908. Henri, who continued the tradition of realism, affected American art both through his work and his teachings. He strove for the liberation of the artist from earlier academic attitudes, preaching freedom from European domination, use of American subject matter, and a realism based on direct experience and observation of life. Henri influenced many younger artists, such as his student, George Bellows. The Eight, associated for purposes of showing their work, employed diverse styles to portray contemporary life in America, usually using urban scenes as subject matter. The significant subject matter of the 20th century art had become the city and its life.
Henri moved to NY in 1900, he was followed by other Philadelphia artists to whom he taught ideas that centered around the Ashcan School:
1. artists could seek subjects in their local environment
2. an ugly subject might make a beautiful painting (ideas that directly contradicted the National Academy of Design's formalized doctrinaire approach)
3. Style: these artists painted with broad, impasto brushstrokes, in a spontaneous, sketchy, rapid style that was radical at the time (reacting against the Academic "style")-- this "American art sprang from an ever growing sentiment of freedom, the joys of motion and the excitement of the city as an expanding world of gigantic creation...."
(Meyer Schapiro. Modern Art: 19th and 20th Centuries selectedpapers. George Braziller: New York, 1982. P.168)
From education files, material for Contemporary Extravaganza, 2000
From education file, docent notes, tour ides, general intro to American art:
Robert Macbeth, A Brief History of American Art from the Days of the Colonists to Now
pages6-7 saved from TX Portal.
Within the past ten or fifteen years a group of realists has arisen that has had great influence on many of our younger painters. It is the outgrowth of the school of Robert Henri and his associates. The aim is a frank and vigorous portrayal of life as it is, and in addition to Henri, George Luks, George Bellows, [William] Glackens, [John] Sloane and [Gifford] Beal are its foremost adherants.
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