The Group of Eight



Three of the Group of Eight,Everett Shinn,
Robert Henri, and John Sloan, 1896


During the latter part of the nineteenth century, art in America, and particularly painting, had a rather effete image...one might even say effeminant.  Men might pay for paintings but women often chose them, and their highly refined tastes were reflected not only in what sold, but even what was painted.  Part of this was the French influence, both in terms of impressionism and the academic style, but it went deeper than that.  There was a "prettiness" to painting that lent a "sissified" aura to any young man professing an interest in the this gentile artform.   
   
Around the turn of the century however, Robert Henri returned to Philadelphia from his studies in Paris where he'd been exposed not only to academic painting, but to Impressionism, Manet, Whistler, and most importantly the seventeenth century work of Valazquez and Hals.  There he gathered around him a group of newspaper illustrators such as John Sloan, Everett Shinn, William Glackens, and George Luks.  These men were accustomed to the rough and tumble life of the big city rather than delicate romantic fantasies.  Moving on to New York City he acquired the following of Arthur B. Davies, Ernest Lawson and Maurice Prendergast.  Together, they have come to be known as the Group of Eight. 

McSorley's Bar, 1912, John Sloan

  
Though their work varied somewhat in subject matter, in terms of style the word "macho" comes to mind.  Brush strokes were bold, colors were vivid, compostions bustled with the vim and vigor of upper, middle, and lower class city life.  There was a robust power in all their work that revitalized painting in New York, influencing later artists such as Columbus, Ohio,  artist George Bellows, Edward Hopper, Reginald Marsh, and African-American artist Archibald Motley Jr. 

The Eviction, 1904, Everett Shinn

 Not always appreciated by the high-minded New York art establishment, these hard living, hard drinking, hard working men could hold their own as well in a studio loft or a bar room brawl.  Sometimes referred to as the "Ashcan School", they erased forever the "prissy" stereotype of the American Artist.