Ashcan School Art

the Shop Window New York City, 1940s 17.75X25 sight size. Maurice Becker (1889–1975) was a radical political artist best known for his work in the 1910s and 1920s for such publica...

Frederick K. Detwiller, 'The Sixth Avenue Spur, New York City', lithograph, 1924, edition 20. Signed, dated, titled, and annotated 'Lith 20' in pencil. Inscribed 'To my Friend Herbert L. Jones' in pencil. Signed and dated, in the stone, lower right; initialed and dated '1927' in the stone, lower left. A fine, richly-inked impression, on cream wove paper, with margins (7/8 to 1 1/4 inches); slight toning in the top left sheet edge, otherwise in good condition. Scarce. Image size 20 1/2 x 14 inches (521 x 356 mm); sheet size 22 1/2 x 16 inches (572 x 406 mm). Archivally matted to museum standards, unframed. ABOUT THE IMAGE The Sixth Avenue El was constructed in the late 1870s by the Gilbert Elevated Railway and reorganized as the Metropolitan Elevated Railway. By 1878, it was running from Rector Street to 58th Street. Soon after that, it was taken over by the Manhattan Railway Company, with three other Manhattan elevated train lines. The company built a connection, the ‘spur’ by which it turned west on 53rd Street to merge with the 9th Avenue El—paralleling the present-day route of the 6th Avenue subway. The Sixth Avenue El served the “Ladies Mile” shops (including the Siegel-Cooper emporium, whose building now houses Bed...

Sloan, John. SISTERS AT THE WINDOW. Etching, 1923 (M. 208). 5" x 4", signed and titled in pencil and inscribed "100 Proofs," of which only 76 were printed this being one of 25 early ...

Here for your consideration is a comical take on the position of maitre d’. Unsigned. Framed in a new African mahogany frame. Overall measurements are 25.5 by 17.5 inches. Oil pain...

Blanche Grambs, known to friends as 'Grambs' (1916-2010) was born in China. She came to New York as a very young woman to study at the Art Students Leag...

Raul Anguiano (1915-2006) was an artist associated with the second wave of Mexican Muralists. This lithograph, Lime Kilns, was published in the Mexican Peoples Portfolio in 1947. M...

Original drawing of a woman heading to market by the well known American artist, Everett Shinn. Mixed media work created with charcoal, pastel and gouache. Signed with the artist’s initials lower right and dated 1916. Condition is very good. Under glass. Matted and in a period gold frame with restorations. Overall framed measurements are 23.5 by 17.25 inches. Provenance: A New York City estate. Everett Shinn (1876 – 1953) Everett Shinn, a realist artist associated with the Ashcan School and member of “The Eight” was born in New Jersey in 1876. After showing an aptitude for the arts as a child, at age 15, Shinn was enrolled at the Spring Garden Institute in Philadelphia. He quickly moved on to classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and by the age of 17, he was working as a staff artist for the Philadelphia Press. While working at the Press, Shinn befriended fellow artists William J. Glackens, George Luks, and John Sloan. This group, with Robert Henri and Joseph Laub, established the Charcoal Club, a social and intellectual sort of alternative art school. In 1897, Shinn moved to New York City to work as an illustrator at the New York World. He became fascinated by the drama of the city. While visiting Europe in 1900, Shinn took interest in the work of the Impressionists, particularly those of Degas. Degas’ influence can be read in Shinn’s depictions of American theater. From his acquaintances in the theater world, Shinn began to paint decorative “rococo revivalist” murals in the homes of the wealthy elite. He also worked extensively in pastel, portraying the rough life of the city. In 1908, Shinn exhibited alongside his Charcoal Club associates, with the addition of Arthur B. Davies, Ernest Lawson, and Maurice Prendergast...

Storm Sky, Palisades, 1908 Oil on canvas, 9 1/4 x 11 1/2 inches (23.5 x 29.2 cm) Framed dimensions: 17 1/8 x 19 1/8 inches Signed and dated lower left: -John Sloan – '08 Inscribed lo...

It's clear to me that that baby carriage is so beautifully drawn that it could be re-constructed from here if necessary. Without really knowing anything about Lucile Haynes I'm sure...

Spring, Bleecker Street, Ruellan's conté crayon drawing from 1938, shows young people out in the world. And their world is Bleecker Street, New York City. The heart of Greenwich Vil...

The dimensions are for the image; there are large margins. This lithograph is signed in pencil. A native New Yorker, Ann Nooney (1900-1970) recorded the urban scene while on the Wo...

James Penney was widely known for his New Yorker covers as well as his paintings and prints. Penney was from Saint Joseph, Missouri. He trained in NY...

Lawrence Beall Smith draws four men in a park, each with his back to a giant, strong tree. The year is 1938 and the country is coming out of the Depression but World War II is alread...

Margarett W. McKean Sargent Stepping Out, 1916 Signed and dated on base Bronze 14 x 6 x 8 inches Provenance Private Collection, Hingham, Massachusetts Walker-Cunningham Fine Art, St. Louis, Missouri, 2007 Exhibited New York, Hawthorne Fine Art...

Study of an Indian Model Unsigned Pastel and chalk on blue paper, mounted to support Provenance: Estate of the artist (per Graham and Sons, agent for the estate) James Graham & Sons,...

Early 20th Century Portrait of Woman Illuminated by Moonlight by Everett Shinn This is a pastel on canvas portrait by Everett Shinn ((1876 - 1953), circa early 20th Century. A softl...

Bernard Schardt worked on the the WPA in NYC during the Depression. (During this period, off and on, he lived with friend and colleague Jackson Pollock...

Massachusetts-born Fred Nagler studied at the Art Students League from 1914 to 1917, with George Bridgeman and Robert Henri, and eventually became a member of the Board of Control. ...

Norman Barr made mural on the NYC-WPA; this lithograph was made in the WPA workshop but was not published by the WPA. The next year he was in the Army! Thi...

An old sailor is shown at work on a what must be a huge sailing vessel. He's splicing, or joining ropes together -- probably still a useful skill in the mi...

Norman Barr recorded his beloved New York City from the Bronx, to Coney Island, to the Fulton Fish Market. In this period he was on the New Deal's Mural ...

The ever-quirky Philip Evergood has composed a print that is at once a World War II image (The New York Times on the table has the headline 'Japs Bomb P...

Born in Czarist Russia Norman Barr (1908-1994) came to New York as a young boy and except for a few night classes at the school of the National Academy of ...

Moses Oley drew an industrial scene, but one very much in isolation. The quarry equipment looks both imposing and busy. There appears to be smoke coming fro...

Louis Bouché was based in New York and taught at the Art Students League. The figure was an important subject in his oeuvre. An ink drawing on tan paper, ...

Norman Barr recorded his beloved New York City from the Bronx, to Coney Island, to the Fulton Fish Market. In this period he was on the New Deal's Mural ...

The etching (Sheep under a Tree) is signed in pencil and annotated (in lower margin) '3rd State, 4 proofs, JN imp.' in pencil. It's in an usually spare drawing style but one that Na...

Norman Barr recorded his beloved New York City from the Bronx, to Coney Island, to the Fulton Fish Market. In this period he was on the New Deal's Mural ...

Ben Messick perfectly captures the world of the 'Ashcan' period: Everyday life, local characters, people we could still meet today. He could draw like a son-of-a-gun! The date of 194...

James Penney was widely known for his New Yorker covers as well as his paintings and prints. Penney was from Saint Joseph, Missouri. He trained in NYC at the Art Students League. The New-York Historical Society and the Library of Congress both have collections of his work. Signed, titled, and dated, and annotated 'Test #1' in pencil. Note entirely sure what's going on here...

Russian-born and European-educated Alexander Kachinsky was a designer of stage sets (for the Ballet Russe), furniture, and commercial interiors. His prints are in the collection of t...

Russian-born and European-educated Alexander Kachinsky was a designer of stage sets (for the Ballet Russe), furniture, and commercial interiors. His prints are in the collection of t...

An idyllic scene at New York City's favorite beach, Coney Island. Before the year was over Barr was in the Army. It is ink and litho-crayon. Barr liked that medium because it didn't ...

Russia-born Ray Euffa studied at the Detroit School of Fine Arts, the Educational Alliance Art School, and Art Students League in NYC. It is New York City i...

Classic American Depression-Era subject meets the French landscape? Clearly Guyer was looking at both Jean-Francois Millet and Vincent Van Gogh, who together informed this image. And...

A man with lots of whiskers is trimming his facial hair while looking in a mirror. The male figure and his beard are carefully drawn but Hirsch has cleverly just briefly sketched in ...

James Penney was widely known for his New Yorker covers as well as his paintings and prints. This lithograph shares the happy joy of warm days in the park with people on benches and ...

Grant Arnold's Summer Landscape, made in 1936, in the depths of the Depression, is a study in peace and calm. It's as though he found a refuge from the wo...

This subject, Heifer, relates to Citron's mural project focusing on the Tennessee Valley Authority. It is signed, dated, and annotated 'Et...

Jane Rogers was born in the artists' colony of Woodstock, New York. Most of her career was spent in New York. Although her dates are most often given as 18...

Albert Abramovitz was working in New York in the 1930s when he made wood engravings of the construction of the Moscow subway. This image, The Wagonette, is a wrenching testament to t...

Don Freeman is best known for his paintings and works on paper of New York City's theatre industry: the signage, the stages and sets, the actors, the costumers and ushers, anything a...

Fernando Castro Pacheco was a Mexican muralist, painter, and printmaker. This linocut is titled to refer to the indigenous population. It is si...

Blanche Grambs, known to friends as 'Grambs' (1916-2010) was born in China. She came to New York as a very young woman to study at the Art Students Leag...

Paul Gattuso attended the Art Students League and worked primarily in New York City. There is an old address with a Bronx, Grand Concourse address. Gattus...

Paul Gattuso attended the Art Students League and worked primarily in New York City. There is an old address with a Bronx, Grand Concourse address. Gattus...

Chicago-born Golinkin studied at the Artist Students League with George Luks. After working as an illustrator for New York papers he joined the Navy in 1939 and retired as a Rear Adm...

A pair of exquisite drawings by American Ashcan School artist Alexander Oscar Levy.

Red Ballboy or Studies for "Tennis Tournament" Crayon on paper, c. 1920 Unsigned Condition: three vertical folds created by the artist to transport the drawing from the tennis match ...

The Mouth of Honey Lithographic crayon and mixed media on paper mounted to support paper Initialed by the artist "GB" bottom center on image. (see photo) Titled in pencil in bottom m...

Head of a Woman (Margaret) conte on wove paper, 1925 Signed and dated lower right Annotated "Margaret" in ink verso A portrait of Margaret Cassidy Manship ( d. 2012), daughter in law...

John Sloan (1871-1954), Barbershop, 1915, etching and aquatint, signed in pencil lower right, inscribed in pencil “For John Quinn, Esq. – John Sloan” lower left margin, (also signed ...

Boys Sledding Etching, 1920 Signed and titled in pencil by the artist below image (see photos) Annotated in pencil by the artist "100 proofs" Signed and dated in the plate lower left...

D’une élégance rare. Un luxe extrême, silencieux, magnétique. Cette pièce ancienne chinoise — un grand lit de jour devenu table basse — renaît de ses cendres à chaque ambiance qu’el...

Amy Londoner Beach at Atlantic City, circa 1922 Signed lower right Pastel on paper Sight 23 x 18 inches Amy Londoner (April 12, 1875 – 1951) was an American painter who exhibited at the 1913 Armory Show. One of the first students of the Henri School of Art in 1909. Prior to the Armory Show of 1913, Amy Londoner and her classmates studied with "Ashcan" painter Robert Henri at the Henri School of Art in New York, N.Y. One notable oil painting, 'The Vase', was painted by both Henri and Londoner. Londoner was born in Lexington, Missouri on April 12, 1875. Her parents were Moses and Rebecca Londoner, who moved to Leadville, Colorado, by 1880. In 1899, Amy took responsibility for her father who had come to Los Angeles from Leadville and had mental issues. By 1900, Amy was living with her parents and sister, Blanche, in the vicinity of Leadville, Denver, Colorado. While little was written about her early life, Denver City directories indicated that nineteenth-century members of the family were merchants, with family ties to New York, N.Y. The family had a male servant. Londoner traveled with her mother to England in 1907 then shortly later, both returned to New York in 1909. Londoner was 34 years old at the time, and, according to standards of the day, should have married and raised a family long before. Instead, she enrolled as one of the first students at the Henri School of Art in 1909. At the Henri School, Londoner established friendships with Carl Sprinchorn (1887-1971), a young Swedish immigrant, and Edith Reynolds (1883-1964), daughter of wealthy industrialist family from Wilkes-Barre, PA. Londoner's correspondence, which often included references to Blanche, listed the sisters' primary address as the Hotel Endicott at 81st Street and Columbus Avenue, NYC. Other correspondence also reached Londoner in the city via Mrs. Theodore Bernstein at 252 West 74th Street; 102 West 73rd Street; and the Independent School of Art at 1947 Broadway. In 1911, Londoner vacationed at the Hotel Trexler in Atlantic City, NJ. As indicated by an undated photograph, Londoner also spent time with Edith Reynolds and Robert Henri at 'The Pines', the Reynolds family estate in Bear Creek, PA. Through her connections with the Henri School, Londoner entered progressive social and professional circles. Henri's admonition, phrased in the vocabulary of his historical time period, that one must become a "man" first and an artist second, attracted both male and female students to classes where development of unique personal styles, tailored to convey individual insights and experiences, was prized above the mastery of standardized, technical skill. Far from being dilettantes, women students at the Henri School were daring individuals willing to challenge tradition. As noted by former student Helen Appleton Read, "it was a mark of defiance,to join the radical Henri group." As Henri offered educational alternatives for women artists, he initiated exhibition opportunities for them as well. Troubled by the exclusion of work by younger artists from annual exhibitions at the National Academy of Design, Henri was instrumental in organizing the no-jury, no-prize Exhibition of Independent Artists in 1910. About half of the 103 artists included in the exhibition were or had been Henri students, while twenty of the twenty-six women exhibiting had studied with Henri. Among the exhibition's 631 pieces, nine were by Amy Londoner, including the notorious 'Lady with a Headache'. Similarly, fourteen of Henri's women students exhibited in the groundbreaking Armory Show of 1913, forming about eight percent of the American exhibitors and one-third of American women exhibitors. Of the nine documented works submitted by Londoner, five were rejected, while four pastels of Atlantic City beach scenes, including 'The Beach Umbrellas' now in the Remington Collection, were displayed. Following Henri's example, Londoner served as an art instructor for younger students at the Modern School, whose only requirement was to genuinely draw what they pleased. The work of dancer Isadora Duncan, another artist devoted to the ideals of a liberal education, was also lauded by the Modern School. Henri, who long admired Duncan and invited members of her troupe to model for his classes, wrote an appreciation of her for the Modern School journal in 1915. She was also the subject of Londoner's pastel Isadora Duncan and the Children: Praise Ye the Lord with Dance. In 1914, Londoner traveled to France to spend summer abroad, living at 99 rue Notre Dames des Champs, Paris, France. As the tenets of European modernism spread throughout the United States, Londoner showed regularly at venues which a new generation of artists considered increasingly passe, including the annual Society of Independent Artists' exhibitions between 1918 and 1934, and the Salons of America exhibition in 1922. Londoner also exhibited at the Morton Gallery, Opportunity Gallery, Leonard Clayton Gallery and Brownell-Lambertson Galleries in NYC. Her painting of a 'Blond Girl' was one of two works included in the College Art Associations Traveling Exhibition of 1929, which toured colleges across the country to broad acclaim. Londoner later in life suffered from illnesses then suffered a stroke which resulted in medical bills significantly mounting over the years that her old friends from the Henri School, including Carl Sprinchorn, Florence Dreyfous, Florence Barley, and Josephine Nivison Hopper, scrambled to raise funds and find suitable long-term care facilities for Londoner. Londoner later joined Reynolds in Bear Creek, PA. Always known for her keen wit, Londoner retained her humor and concern for her works even during her illness, noting that "if anything happens to the Endicott, I guess they will just throw them out." Sprinchorn and Reynolds, however, did not allow this to happen. In 1960, Londoner's paintings 'Amsterdam Avenue at 74th Street' and 'The Builders' were loaned by Reynolds to a show commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Exhibition of Independent Artists in 1910, presented at the Delaware Art Center, Wilmington, DE. In the late 80's, Francis William Remington, 'Bill Remington', of Bear Creek Village PA, along with his neighbor and artist Frances Anstett Brennan, both had profound admiration for Amy Londoner's art work and accomplishments as a woman who played a significant role in the Ashcan movement. Remington acquired a significant number of Londoner's artwork along with Frances Anstett Brenan that later was part of an exhibition of Londoner's artwork in April 15 of 2007, at the Hope Horn...

Woman Pulling on a Slip Conte on paper, c. 1910 Signed lower right: "E. Shinn" (see photo of legs, signature on right) Provenance: Estate of the Artist (see label) Graham Gallery, N...

Francis Luis Mora was considered one of America's finest "sketchers". A collection of his Sketchbooks are at the Smithsonian and this work came out of one in the early 1990's from t...

Immigrant children from New York's Lower East Side are joyfully captured whizzing down on a slide. From the window of a tenement building, a lone adult with child witnesses the foli...

If ever there was an image that fit the description of 'Ashcan,' Harry Rein's Competition, made for the NYC WPA, is clearly it! Some impressions have the WPA sstamp, including the o...

Amy Londoner Beach at Atlantic City, circa 1922 Signed lower right Pastel on paper Sight 23 x 18 inches Amy Londoner (April 12, 1875 – 1951) was an American painter who exhibited at the 1913 Armory Show. One of the first students of the Henri School of Art in 1909. Prior to the Armory Show of 1913, Amy Londoner and her classmates studied with "Ashcan" painter Robert Henri at the Henri School of Art in New York, N.Y. One notable oil painting, 'The Vase', was painted by both Henri and Londoner. Londoner was born in Lexington, Missouri on April 12, 1875. Her parents were Moses and Rebecca Londoner, who moved to Leadville, Colorado, by 1880. In 1899, Amy took responsibility for her father who had come to Los Angeles from Leadville and had mental issues. By 1900, Amy was living with her parents and sister, Blanche, in the vicinity of Leadville, Denver, Colorado. While little was written about her early life, Denver City directories indicated that nineteenth-century members of the family were merchants, with family ties to New York, N.Y. The family had a male servant. Londoner traveled with her mother to England in 1907 then shortly later, both returned to New York in 1909. Londoner was 34 years old at the time, and, according to standards of the day, should have married and raised a family long before. Instead, she enrolled as one of the first students at the Henri School of Art in 1909. At the Henri School, Londoner established friendships with Carl Sprinchorn (1887-1971), a young Swedish immigrant, and Edith Reynolds (1883-1964), daughter of wealthy industrialist family from Wilkes-Barre, PA. Londoner's correspondence, which often included references to Blanche, listed the sisters' primary address as the Hotel Endicott at 81st Street and Columbus Avenue, NYC. Other correspondence also reached Londoner in the city via Mrs. Theodore Bernstein at 252 West 74th Street; 102 West 73rd Street; and the Independent School of Art at 1947 Broadway. In 1911, Londoner vacationed at the Hotel Trexler in Atlantic City, NJ. As indicated by an undated photograph, Londoner also spent time with Edith Reynolds and Robert Henri at 'The Pines', the Reynolds family estate in Bear Creek, PA. Through her connections with the Henri School, Londoner entered progressive social and professional circles. Henri's admonition, phrased in the vocabulary of his historical time period, that one must become a "man" first and an artist second, attracted both male and female students to classes where development of unique personal styles, tailored to convey individual insights and experiences, was prized above the mastery of standardized, technical skill. Far from being dilettantes, women students at the Henri School were daring individuals willing to challenge tradition. As noted by former student Helen Appleton Read, "it was a mark of defiance,to join the radical Henri group." As Henri offered educational alternatives for women artists, he initiated exhibition opportunities for them as well. Troubled by the exclusion of work by younger artists from annual exhibitions at the National Academy of Design, Henri was instrumental in organizing the no-jury, no-prize Exhibition of Independent Artists in 1910. About half of the 103 artists included in the exhibition were or had been Henri students, while twenty of the twenty-six women exhibiting had studied with Henri. Among the exhibition's 631 pieces, nine were by Amy Londoner, including the notorious 'Lady with a Headache'. Similarly, fourteen of Henri's women students exhibited in the groundbreaking Armory Show of 1913, forming about eight percent of the American exhibitors and one-third of American women exhibitors. Of the nine documented works submitted by Londoner, five were rejected, while four pastels of Atlantic City beach scenes, including 'The Beach Umbrellas' now in the Remington Collection, were displayed. Following Henri's example, Londoner served as an art instructor for younger students at the Modern School, whose only requirement was to genuinely draw what they pleased. The work of dancer Isadora Duncan, another artist devoted to the ideals of a liberal education, was also lauded by the Modern School. Henri, who long admired Duncan and invited members of her troupe to model for his classes, wrote an appreciation of her for the Modern School journal in 1915. She was also the subject of Londoner's pastel Isadora Duncan and the Children: Praise Ye the Lord with Dance. In 1914, Londoner traveled to France to spend summer abroad, living at 99 rue Notre Dames des Champs, Paris, France. As the tenets of European modernism spread throughout the United States, Londoner showed regularly at venues which a new generation of artists considered increasingly passe, including the annual Society of Independent Artists' exhibitions between 1918 and 1934, and the Salons of America exhibition in 1922. Londoner also exhibited at the Morton Gallery, Opportunity Gallery, Leonard Clayton Gallery and Brownell-Lambertson Galleries in NYC. Her painting of a 'Blond Girl' was one of two works included in the College Art Associations Traveling Exhibition of 1929, which toured colleges across the country to broad acclaim. Londoner later in life suffered from illnesses then suffered a stroke which resulted in medical bills significantly mounting over the years that her old friends from the Henri School, including Carl Sprinchorn, Florence Dreyfous, Florence Barley, and Josephine Nivison Hopper, scrambled to raise funds and find suitable long-term care facilities for Londoner. Londoner later joined Reynolds in Bear Creek, PA. Always known for her keen wit, Londoner retained her humor and concern for her works even during her illness, noting that "if anything happens to the Endicott, I guess they will just throw them out." Sprinchorn and Reynolds, however, did not allow this to happen. In 1960, Londoner's paintings 'Amsterdam Avenue at 74th Street' and 'The Builders' were loaned by Reynolds to a show commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Exhibition of Independent Artists in 1910, presented at the Delaware Art Center, Wilmington, DE. In the late 80's, Francis William Remington, 'Bill Remington', of Bear Creek Village PA, along with his neighbor and artist Frances Anstett Brennan, both had profound admiration for Amy Londoner's art work and accomplishments as a woman who played a significant role in the Ashcan movement. Remington acquired a significant number of Londoner's artwork along with Frances Anstett Brenan that later was part of an exhibition of Londoner's artwork in April 15 of 2007, at the Hope Horn...