Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York, 1897-1917 [Hardcover]

Virginia M. Mecklenburg (Author), Robert W. Snyder (Author), Rebecca Zurier (Author), National Museum of American Art (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 1996

100 greatest works by Bellows, Sloan, and the other painters of the Ashcan School.

This book presents 100 of the greatest paintings, pastels, drawings, and prints by a group of artists derogatorily dubbed the Ashcan School by the critics. George Bellows, William Glackens, Robert Henri, George Luks, Everett Shinn, and John Sloan ignored the romantic and lofty themes of many of their contemporaries and chose instead to depict the dramatic changes and conflicting social mores among the common people in turn-of-the-century New York City. The Ashcan artists documented the city and its people in an almost journalistic fashion, exploring the same subjects occupying the press: immigration, the lower-middle class, and gender issues. They portrayed life at the street level, gravitating to bars, street corners, boxing clubs, beaches, parks, restaurants, movie theaters, and neighborhood meeting places. In retrospect, it is difficult to imagine the American tradition in painting without these wonderful and moving works. 110 full-color and 100 black-and-white illustrations

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Between 1897 and 1917, six painters, none native to the city they so provocatively and energetically portrayed, challenged the standards for suitable artistic subject matter when they took to the streets of New York and seized on images full of motion and life. Their "prophet" was Walt Whitman, and their achievements create a vibrant record of urban growth and artistic evolution. George Bellows, William Glackens, Robert Henri, George Luks, Everett Shinn, and John Sloan were friends and collaborators, each developing their own distinct style, each capturing different slices of New York life. There are scenes of poverty and wealth, work and play, sensuality and despair. Zurier and her coauthors, Robert Snyder and Virginia Mecklenburg, bring expertise in art, social, and cultural history to this lively volume. They profile each artist and analyze his works, establishing a visual context with photographs and graphic arts of the time. Most of the paintings, which are beautifully reproduced, are rarely seen in books, and some, especially Shinn's exceptional pastels and watercolors, are a revelation. Donna Seaman

About the Author

Virginia Mecklenburg is the chief curator for the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C.

Robert Snyder is a social historian and author of The Voice of the City: Vaudeville and Pop Culture in New York.

Rebecca Zurier is assistant professor of American Art at the University of Michigan.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 232 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1ST edition (January 17, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393039013
• ISBN-13: 978-0393039016
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #200,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars America's Masterpieces, February 18, 2001

By 

Everett D. Reese "edreese" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York, 1897-1917 (Hardcover)

When Bill Gates bought a George Bellows oil for twenty-seven-and-a-half million dollars in November of 1999, the national media at last took notice of what may be the most important genre of American art - the Ashcan period of the early 1900's. This wonderful book captures the lives, times, and works of the six artists who brought the streets of turn-of-the-century New York City to thrilling life. Bellows, Sloan, Henri, Glackens, Luks, and Shinn shared a collective talent and daring unseen before or since in the United States, and the book presents their best works in gorgeous color. It also delves into both the men's and the city's history to place the art in context.

Alfred Lord Tennyson once praised Rudyard Kipling for his 'divine fire.' Of the six artists here, Bellows, Sloan, and Henri clearly possessed that fire.

Bellows's unflinching depiction of New York's seedy side reveals a city simultaneously frightening, comical, and beautiful. Sloan's more affectionate touch finds warm delight in the common and mundane. The vitality of Henri's portraits is nothing short of remarkable.

If you buy this book for nothing else, buy it for Sloan. Beautiful, accessible, challenging paintings. And you won't find yourself in a competition with Bill Gates. =)