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 20th
Century’s fascination with Modernism.
Never-the-less, the Urban Realists have left a lasting
legacy of a fascinating look at early 20th 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 20th 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
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.
The winner of the Mystery Object for January, 2010, is Jacquie Kitzelman!! Lydia Troxler answered correctly shortly after Jacquie. The object was correctly identified as the Assyrian Bird-Headed Deity located in the South West Asian Gallery on the 5th floor of the North Building. As I stated previously, this object has intrigued me for a long time. Who is Ashurnasirpal II? How did this object wind up in Denver, so far from its place of origin? How did so many of these objects of the same description get distributed to art museum all over the USA? Could this object be part of the legal controversy currently rocking the art museum world?
