John Sloan

Gateway to Cerrillos – 1947

Mystery Object

Whenever you go between the North and the Hamilton Building, you  pass this painting titled Gateway to Cerrillos, by John Sloan.

From John Sloan's Oil Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonne, Part Two, by Rowland Elzea:

On October 8, 1946, Sloan wrote in his diary, “I took a 20x26 [inch] panel and cut it to 18x26 [inch] the purpose of trying to get something out of my sketch made near Cerrillos yesterday.  I got at it in tempera and it may perhaps come through although I may find it necessary to make another trip to refresh my memory.”   The next day:  “After lunch we suddenly decided to take a ride down to Cerrillos, or rather about 2 miles scant of there so that I might get another look at my subject along the Cerrillos highway.”   Later:  “I have introduced 3 artists at work in the broad foreground:  Joe Reed, left, John Sloan center right; Helen Farr Sloan right above.  The work is still in tempera.”

Los Cerrillos is a little mining town located about 10.5 miles southwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  It’s turquoise and lead deposits have attracted people to the area going back to at least 1500 years. 

Helen Farr Sloan was John’s second wife.  They married in 1944 a year after Sloan’s first wife had died.  Sloan and his first wife had been married for over 40 years.

I was unable to find information on the third artist mentioned in the painting, Joe Reed.

John Sloan is probably best known for his urban realism paintings and his membership in The Eight (1). These artists, led by Robert Henri, exhibited only once, in New York, in 1908.  ‘The Eight’ spurned Academic painting and Impressionism for a more journalistic style of painting.  In fact, many, including Sloan, were at one time illustrators for newspapers.  Sloan was also considered a ‘member’ of a subset of The Eight, the Ashcan School (2), a term Sloan hated.  These Urban Realists painted the grittier side of life in the city.  Eventually, Urban Realism fell out of favor, replaced by the 20^th Century’s fascination with Modernism. 

Never-the-less, the Urban Realists have left a lasting legacy of a fascinating look at early 20^th Century urban life.

Red Kimono on the Roof, 1912

Unglorified glimpse of a woman hanging laundry.  Probably painted from Sloan’s studio window in New York City. 

Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Renganeschi’s Saturday Night, 1912

Sloan explored the leisure activities of working-class women and the changing social mores of the 20^th Century.  Working women are shown here celebrating a night out on the town at a popular Italian Restaurant.  Sloan emphasizes their newfound freedom to socialize in a public space without the need for male escorts.  Notice the woman on the right with her legs wrapped around the chair legs.  Art Institute of Chicago

Big Hat (also known as Blonde Girl), 1909

Sloan was also capable of wonderful portraiture such as this painting from the Milwaukee Art Museum.

 A Woman’s Work, 1912 Sloan seemed to be fascinated by women doing laundry.  Or perhaps this was a convenient subject to paint since this scene was observed right outside his Manhattan apartment window.  Perched on a narrow fire escape, a woman hangs fresh laundry to dry on clotheslines strung between tenements.  He explored social issues more vigorously than other painters of his time, portraying working class urbanites engaged in ordinary activities.
  Cleveland Art Museum

Sloan visited the Southwest in 1919 and there began his annual visits to the Santa Fe area every summer for the next 30 years.  He was inspired by the desert landscape and developed a strong interest in Native American art.  He died of cancer at the age of 80 in 1951.

I’ll leave you with one last painting, this one painted north of Santa Fe.

North Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico ca. 1933, El Paso Museum of Art

Notes:

1.  The Eight: William Glackens (1870-1938), Robert Henri (1865-1929), George Luks (1867-1933), Everett Shinn (1876-1953) and John French Sloan (1871-1951), along with Arthur B. Davies (1862-1928), Ernest Lawson (1873-1939) and Maurice Prendergast (1859-1924).

2. Only five artists of The Eight (Henri, Sloan, Glackens, Shinn, and Luks) painted the gritty urban scenes that characterized the Ashcan School.

Sources: As noted in the essay; wall labels from the museums listed; Wikipedia for a few additional facts.