biography of John SLOAN (1871-1951)

Birth place: Lock Haven, PA

Death place: Hanover, NH

Addresses: Phila., PA; NYC/Santa Fe, NM

Profession: Painter, etcher, illustrator, teacher, writer, lithographer

Studied: PAFA with Anshutz, 1892.

Exhibited: AIC, 1900-46; PAFA Ann., 1901-51 (gold for best portrait, 1931); Corcoran Gal. biennials, 1907-51 (17 times); Macbeth Gal., 1908; Armory Show, 1913; S. Indp. A., 1917-44 (annually); WMAA, 1918-50; SAE, 1940 (prize); Pan-Pacific Expo, San Fran., 1915 (medal); Sesqui-Centenn. Expo, Phila., 1926 (gold); Taos SA, from 1922; WFNY 1939; Delaware Art Mus.; "The Ashcan Artists and their New York," NMAA, 1995.

Member: S. Indp. A. (pres., 1918-51); AIAL; Taos SA.

Work: Delaware Art Mus. (major collection); NYPL; Newark Pub. Lib.; CM; CI; MMA; BM; Mus. New Mexico; PMG; CGA; Pennsylvania State College; Barnes Found.; Newark Mus.; Detroit Inst. Art; LACMA; San Diego FAS; AIC; WMAA; BMFA; AGAA; Wichita Mus. Art; PAFA; PMA; TMA; WPA murals, USPO, Bronxville, NY; Mint Mus., Charlotte; Parrish AM, Southhampton; Bowdoin Col. Mus. FA; Gilcrease Inst.

Comments: One of the "black gang" in Phila. with Henri, Luks, Shinn and Glackens (all of whom were working as artist-reporters). By 1904 all five were in NYC and by 1908 they formed "The Eight" later known as the "Ashcan School." Sloan painted his first urban scenes in 1897, basing the scene on his own observations of the city streets, a method he practiced and advocated throughout his career. He joined the Socialist party in 1909 and contributed drawings to several Socialist papers thereafter, including the Masses for which he was editor 1912-16. Sloan lightened his palette about 1909 and also began to paint more landscapes and interiors. He visited Santa Fe, NM, in 1919 and bought an adobe house there in 1920. He spent most summers thereafter in Santa Fe, painting landscapes in his studio because the New Mexico light affected his nearsightedness. Married artist Helen Farr (Sloan) in 1944. Note: at the 1924 Soc. of Indep. Artists' exhibition, Sloan showed two works under his own name and one work under the name of Josh Nolan (an anagram for John Sloan). Positions: artist/reporter, Inquirer, 1892; Philadelphia Press, 1895-1903; made drawings for Socialist news organs, the Call and Coming Nation; ed., the Masses 1912-16; teacher, ASL, 1914-26, 1935-37; pres., ASL. Illustrator: etchings and drawings for novels of Paul de Kock, 1902-05; and for Gaboraiau; Of Human Bondage, Ltd. Ed., 1938. Auth.: Gist of Art, 1939 (autobiographical).

Sources: WW47; Rowland Elzea and Elizabeth Hawkes, John Sloan: Spectator of Life (Wilmington: Delaware Art Mus., 1988); David W. Scott, John Sloan (New York, 1975); Mecklenburg, Zurier, and Snyder, Metropolitan Lives: the Ashcan Artists and their New York; William Innes Homer, Robert Henri & His Circle (1969); Bennard B. Perlman, The Immortal Eight: American Painting from Eakins to the Armory Show, 1870-1913 (New York, 1962); Baigell, Dictionary; P&H Samuels, 446; Eldredge, et al., Art in New Mexico, 1900-45, 207-08; Falk, Exh. Record Series.