John Sloan, Sunday, Women Drying Their Hair.
John Sloan, Sunday, Women Drying Their Hair, 1912. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Theresa Bernstein, In the Elevated.
Theresa Bernstein, In the Elevated, 1916.
Background
The early 1900s was a time of great innovation in the art of painting. Painters around the world experimented with new techniques and subject matter, building on the innovations of movements like Impressionism from the end of the 1800s. These experimentations were part of a larger move toward Modernism.
In the United States, this experimentation led to the development of the Ashcan School of painting. Ashcan School artists were interested in how art might reflect real life, as opposed to the traditional concept of creating art for art’s sake or presenting fantastic or idealized images of the world. For example, when depicting New York City, Ashcan School artists tried to capture the city’s energy while being honest about the realities of urban life.
About the Image
These two images demonstrate how men and women Ashcan School artists brought different perspectives to the same subject matter. The first piece, Sunday, Women Drying Their Hair, is by artist John Sloan. He described it as “another of the human comedies which were regularly staged for my enjoyment by the humble roof-top players of Cornelia Street.”
The second image, In the Elevated, is by painter Theresa Bernstein. It too depicts a scene from the daily lives of women. But instead of showing women in a private, domestic setting, the women are riding a subway car. The prominent brushstrokes and muted color palette convey the emotional realities of the scene.
Both John and Theresa are representing life as it was lived. Yet, Sunday, Women Drying Their Hair shows women in a moment of privacy, hidden away from the world. In the Elevated includes women as a part of public urban life.
Vocabulary
- Ashcan School: A movement in Realist painting that emphasized painting from memory and was not offering commentary, but rather attempting to capture daily life as it was lived.
- brushstrokes: The marks made by a paintbrush when it moves across a surface.
- color palette: The chosen set of colors for a particular artwork.
- Modernism: A movement in the arts at the beginning of the 1900s. Modernist artists specifically sought to break with classical and traditional art forms and styles.
- Impressionism: A style of painting that focused on the effects of light and color rather than exact details.
- Realism: A style of painting that sought to convey a truthful and objective vision of daily life.
Discussion Questions
- How did each artist choose to depict women? Do you think their gender influenced their choices? Why or why not?
- Ashcan School artists strived to depict life as it happened. What makes these two pieces part of the Ashcan School?
- What can we learn about the lives of women in the early 1900s from these paintings? What are the limitations of learning about the past from paintings?
Suggested Activities
- Use these two pieces to introduce the role of women in the Ashcan School, a turning point in American art.
- Pair this resource with the following resources to consider the role of women in the arts in this era:
- To learn more about women in the arts from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, explore these resources:
Themes
AMERICAN CULTURE
