John Sloan was born in 1871 in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Philadelphia. Forced to work young, he learned drawing in the press and developed as an illustrator a rapid visual memory of gestures, streets and characters. His meeting with Robert Henri encouraged him to paint contemporary life without making it more noble than it was. In 1904, Sloan moved to New York and observed restaurants, theaters, parks, rooftops and popular housing. Bleecker Street, Saturday Night and Renganeschi's Saturday Night captured the city's social movement rather than an official monument. In 1904, Sloan moved to New York and observed restaurants, theaters, parks, rooftops and popular housing. Bleecker Street, Saturday Night and Renganeschi Saturday Night captured the city's social movement rather than an official monument. In 1904, Sloan moved to New York and observed restaurants, theaters, parks, rooftops and popular housing. Bleecker Street, Saturday Night and Renganeschi Saturday Night captured the city's social movement rather than an official monument. In 1904, Sloan moved to New York and observed restaurants, theaters, parks, rooft Red kimono on the roof transforms a private stage seen high up into a burst of color. Member of The Eight during the independent exhibition of 1908, Sloan became a figure at the Ashcan School. A committed socialist and collaborator of The Masses, he nevertheless distinguished his politics of freedom from his pictorial gaze. An influential professor at the Art Students League, he continued painting, etching and writing until his death in 1951. The "John Sloan" selection notably pitted Rue Bleecker, Saturday evening and Bar McSorley against each other. His reading favors space.
Sloan is not looking for the official New York show: he is waiting for the ordinary city to reveal its theater itself, on a sidewalk, in a bar or on a roof.