Rebellious Genre of Art Featured in Gallery Exhibition

Rebellious Genre of Art Featured in Gallery Exhibition

    In the early twentieth century, two men living in New York City were breaking all the rules of the painting world.

    John Sloan and Jerome Myers, two artists of the Ashcan School, began painting in a new way. In the 1800s, most painters were covering things that related to the middle-upper class, usually portraits and landscapes. Sloan and Myers worked mostly in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, which consisted of populations that had just immigrated to the United States.

    “The Lower East Side had a vibrant ethnic community,” said Darlene Miller-Lanning, Ph.D., director of The University of Scranton’s Hope Horn Gallery. “A lot of different types of cultures and languages were mixing together.” 

    Sloan and Myers mostly painted the people they saw in the Lower East Side, often as they were shopping or sleeping on their roofs during the summer. 

    “That wasn’t really an appropriate subject for art,” said Dr. Miller-Lanning. “The Ashcan artists wanted to break down that divide and address some of those subjects. They saw life and vitality as being the beginning of what would become the modern world.”

    The exhibit, called “Ashcan Humanists: John Sloan and Jerome Myers,” will be on display at the Hope Horn Gallery in The University of Scranton’s Hyland Hall from Feb. 5 to Mar. 12. 

    The exhibit opening lecture will take place on Feb. 5 from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the Pearn Auditorium of Brennan Hall,where guest curator Ken Ratner will speak about the paintings. Following the lecture, a reception will be held in the Hope Horn Gallery from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The lecture and reception are part of the city’s downtown First Friday events and are free of charge and open to the public.

    The gallery is open Sunday through Friday, from noon to 4 p.m., and on Wednesdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. 

    For additional information, contact The University of Scranton’s Hope Horn Gallery at 941-4214.