The Eight and the Ashcan School Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

The Eight and the ash-bin School - Essay ExampleIt is not only that commercial and residential boundaries of upstart York changed but perceptions and habitual views were undergoing rapid changes. It was a favorable milieu for the formation of popular culture. New York was growing in size, its macrocosm was diversifying. Many ethnic groups mixed together contributing to creation of new forms of artist expression, reflecting changing sociable relationships. The early 20th century witnessed a radical change in American painting. This was not a change in attitude toward painting but in attitude toward life. It was a journalists revolution originating from Philadelphia. New York City with financial growth explosion, office work for women and the sweatshops for immigrants all these conditions brought young newspaper illustrators to develop their careers as fine artists in New York getting away from the conservative, static art establishment of Philadelphia. The rapidly changing scene s of New York as it is were captured by artists who are better known as the Eight Robert Henri, Arthur B. Davies, Maurice Prendergast, Ernest Lawson, William Glackens, Everett Shinn, John Sloan, and George Luks. These artists enclose a contemporary realism that explored the drama, humor and exoticism of life in the turbulent metropolis. The Ashcan work which united the Eight and a number of other artists took roots in Philadelphia under the leadership of Henri. In Philadelphia, Henris rebellious nature made him a catalyst, an enthusiast ....