Ashcan School

Around the early part of 20th century, a new art genre aroused people's attention. It was Ashcan School which is also called
"The Eight" because it consisted of eight people. The eight people were: Arthur Davies, Robert Henri, William Glackens, Ernest
Lawson, George Luks, Maurice Prendergast, John Sloan and Everett Shinn. Among them, the artist and art teacher Robert Henri
was the founder of the group, and they began their activities in Philadelphia around 1891.


Apart from the Old School artists of that period, "The Eight" adopted a philosophy:” Art for life’s sake. They thought what was
real in life was beautiful. They focused on urban reality. It’s easy to find alleyways, apartments and office buildings in their
works. Their paintings had a free style which was very different from the polished techniques taught in the American art of
that time. They painted with passion and humor with sincere in sight of the people's daily life in New York city.Their early works were generally dark mainly using gray, brown and black. It was a result of Robert Henri’s trip to Europe where he became an admirer of Goya, Velazquez, Hals and Manet.


They were fond of painting common scenes in New York that were dirty and poor. This new style of art had infuriated many
people who felt it was in bad taste to describe their city in such a negative way. The artists defended that they re neither
social critics nor reformers. They just painted the urban reality for fun.


After been rejected by the National Academy because their work was considered so controversial to arrange for an exhibition
in 1907, they made up their mind to hold their own exhibition. In 1908, They realized their dream and the exhibit was the
first one that was self-organized and self-selected by a group of related people. The exhibition attracted a
lot of people and made them famous.


Although some critic called them "The Revolutionary Black Gang" , they were famous throughout the world. Ashcan School
had a great influence in American art development.Ashcan School's paintings show the real America.



Work Cited:
McLaughlin Neal ,Ashcan School,27 October 2008,from:
http://virtualology.com/virtualmuseumofart/hallofartmovements/ashcanschool.net/


Art Movement,Ashcan School,27 October 2008,from:
http://www.artmovements.co.uk/ashcanschool.htm


Schiff Richard,The Ashcan School,27 October 2008,from:
http://www.sohoart.com/ashcan.htm