Table Of ContentAshcan Art, Whiteness, and
the Unspectacular Man
Ashcan Art, Whiteness, and the
Unspectacular Man
Alexis L. Boylan
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc
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First published 2017
© Alexis L. Boylan, 2017
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accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Boylan, Alexis L., author.
Title: Ashcan art, whiteness, and the unspectacular man / Alexis Boylan.
Description: New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2017. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016045135 (print) | LCCN 2016045819 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781501325755 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781501325762 (ePUB) |
ISBN 9781501325779 (ePDF)
Subjects: LCSH: Masculinity in art. | Ashcan school of art. | Painting,
American–19th century–Themes, motives. | Painting, American–20th
century–Themes, motives. | Art and society–United States–History–19th
century. | Art and society–United States–History–20th century.
Classification: LCC ND1460.M38 B69 2017 (print) | LCC ND1460.M38 (ebook) |
DDC 700/.45211–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016045135
ISBN: HB: 978-1-5013-2575-5
ePub: 978-1-5013-2576-2
ePDF: 978-1-5013-2577-9
Cover design: Irene Martinez Costa
Cover image © George Bellows Blue Morning (detail),
oil on canvas, 1909, National Gallery of Art.
Typeset by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd.
For Bellina “Bobo” Farbman who taught me to look carefully and thoughtfully
and then to love carelessly and with abandon.
Contents
List of Illustrations viii
Acknowledgments xiv
Introduction 1
1 What Are You Looking At? Bodies, Desire, and Portraits 29
2 Working Hard or Hardly Working? Labor, Race, and Manhood 85
3 Sex Sells: Desire, Money, and Male Bodies 125
4 Men Seeking Men 189
Epilogue 237
Selected Bibliography 242
Index 260
List of Illustrations
Figures
1.1 Letter from John Sloan to Dolly Sloan, no date (1903/04 written on
letter in different script); John Sloan Manuscript Collection, Delaware
Art Museum. © 2016 Delaware Art Museum/Artists Rights Society
(ARS), New York 30
1.2 George Luks participating in a mock boxing match, taken at
806 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, 1895; John Sloan Manuscript
Collection, Delaware Art Museum 34
1.3 Zaida Ben-Yusuf, William Merritt Chase, in “Among the Artists,”
American Art News 4 no. 4 (November 4, 1905): 3 36
1.4 John Sloan sitting at his easel in his 705 Walnut Street Studio,
February 1893; John Sloan Manuscript Collection, Delaware
Art Museum 37
1.5 Robert Henri in his studio in Philadelphia, 1893; John Sloan
Manuscript Collection, Delaware Art Museum 38
1.6 Gertrude Käsebier, Everett Shinn, 1907; platinum print, sheet,
8 × 6 3/8 in. (20.3 × 16.2 cm). Delaware Art Museum, Gift of
Helen Farr Sloan, 1978 49
1.7 Zaida Ben-Yusuf, Everett Shinn, in “The Lounger,” The Critic 38 no. 3
(March 1901): 197 52
1.8 Zaida Ben-Yusuf, John Alexander White, c. 1901; John White
Alexander papers, 1775–1968, bulk 1870–1915. Archives of
American Art, Smithsonian Institution 53
1.9 Zaida Ben-Yusuf, Everett Shinn, 1901; platinum print 54
1.10 Zaida Ben-Yusuf, Robert Henri, in “Among the Artists,” American Art
News 4 no. 7 (November 25, 1905): 3 57
1.11 Alvin Langdon Coburn, George Luks, c. 1907; negative, gelatin on
nitrocellulose roll film, 5 × 4 in. George Eastman Museum. Gift of
Alvin Langdon Coburn, 1979.3906.0010. Printed photograph is a
digital positive from an original negative 60
List of Illustrations ix
1.12 Gertrude Käsebier, Robert Henri, 1907; glass, dry plate, 8 × 10 in.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division,
Washington, DC 65
1.13 Gertrude Käsebier, John Sloan, c. 1907; platinum print,
20.5 cm × 15.3 cm (8 1/16 × 6 in.). National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution 66
1.14 Gertrude Käsebier, John Sloan, 1900–1909; platinum print,
20.2 × 15.4 cm (7 15/16 × 6 1/16 in.). The J. Paul Getty Museum,
Los Angeles 67
2.1 Everett Shinn, Street Scene, 1900; illustration Regina Armstrong,
“The New Leaders in American Illustration: IV, The Typists:
McCarter, Yohn, Glackens, Shinn, and Luks,” The Bookman VXI
(May 1900): 248 89
2.2 Advertisement, Success Magazine (January/February 1903): 313 91
2.3 Letter from Robert Henri to John Sloan, October 24, 1903;
John Sloan Manuscript Collection, Delaware Art Museum 114
3.1 Edmonia Lewis, Forever Free, 1867; marble, 41 1/4 × 11 × 17 in.,
Howard University Gallery of Art, Washington, DC 134
3.2 Charles Dana Gibson, Advice to Caddies—You will save time by
keeping an eye on the ball, not the player, 1900; Publishing Co./Life
Publishing Co./Museum of the City of New York. X2011.34.580 137
3.3 John Sloan, “Turning out the Light” 1905; Etching © 2016 Delaware
Art Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 141
3.4 Thomas A. Edison Inc. and Hendricks Collection. May Irwin Kiss.
United States: Edison Manufacturing Co, 1896. Photo courtesy
of the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research 144
3.5 John Sloan, Night Windows, 1910; Etching © 2016 Delaware Art
Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 152
3.6 John Sloan, The Haymarket, Sixth Avenue, 1907. Oil on canvas,
26 1/8 × 34 13/16 in. (66.3 × 88.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum,
Gift of Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney, 23.60 © 2016 Delaware Art
Museum/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 166
3.7 Illustration, “The Romance of a Girl with Red Hair,” New York
American, July 26, 1908 171
3.8 Illustration, “New York’s Art War and the Eight ‘Rebels,’ ” New York
World, Magazine section, February 2, 1908; General Research Division,
The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations 175
