ArtPage on The Eight

The Eight- A group of American painters who united to oppose various traditions upheld by the National Academy. They exhibited together only once — in 1908, but the effect of their gesture was to strengthen the advance of modernism in the United States. The Eight included five painters associated with the Ashcan school: Robert Henri (1865-1929), George Luks (1867-1933), William Glackens (1870-1938), John Sloan (1871-1951), and Everett Shinn (1876-1953), along with Maurice Prendergast (1859-1924), Ernest Lawson (1873-1939), and Arthur Bowen Davies (1862-1928).

Examples of works by members of the Eight:

Maurice Brazil Prendergast (American, born Newfoundland, 1859-1924), After the Review, 1895, color monotype, image: 25.3 x 20.1 cm; sheet: 36.8 x 28 cm, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA.

Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Large Boston Public Garden Sketchbook: The Huntington Avenue Streetcar, 1895-1897, watercolor over pencil, 14 1/8 x 11 1/8 inches (35.8 x 28.4 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Rhododendrons, Boston Public Gardens, 1899, watercolor and graphite on paper, 14 1/16 x 20 3/4 inches, Portland Art Museum, ME.

Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Low Tide, Beachmont, c. 1902-4, watercolor over graphite and coal on off-white wove paper, Worcester Art Museum, MA.

Maurice Brazil Prendergast, The Holiday, 1907-1909, oil on canvas, 27 x 34 3/8 inches (68.6 x 87.3 cm), Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA.

Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Boat Landing at Dinard, also called Quay at Dinard or Processional, c. 1909, watercolor and graphite on tan laid paper, sheet: 31.7 x 45.6 cm, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA.

Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Crepuscule, c. 1912, oil on canvas, 20 1/2 x 28 inches, private collection. This is one of several paintings Prendergast exhibited in the influential Armory Show of 1913.

Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Rocky Coast Scene, 1912-1913, oil on canvas mounted on panel, 13 3/4 x 19 1/2 inches (34.9 x 49.5 cm), Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA.

Maurice Prendergast, Holidays, 20th century, oil on canvas, 34 x 47 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Arthur Bowen Davies (American, 1862-1928), Arethusa, 1901, oil on canvas, 27 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches (69.85 x 57.15 cm), Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH. See nude.

Arthur Bowen Davies, Pacific Parnassus, Mount Tamalpais, 1905, oil on canvas, 26 1/4 x 40 1/4 inches (66.7 x 102.2 cm), Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA.

Robert Henri (born Robert Henry Cozad) (American, 1865-1929), The Masquerade Dress, 1911, oil on canvas, 76 1/2 x 36 1/4 inches (194.2 x 92 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.

George Benjamin Luks (American, 1866-1933), In the Steerage, 1900, oil on canvas, 30 5/8 x 19 1/4 inches (77.8 x 48.9 cm), North Carolina Art Museum, Raleigh.

George Luks (American, 1866/67 - 1933), Innocence, c. 1916, oil on canvas, 30 x 25 (76.2 x 63.5 cm) inches, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA.

William Glackens (American, 1870-1938), Rocks and Lighthouse, c. 1908, oil on canvas, 25 x 30 inches (63.5 x 76.1 cm), Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA. See seascape.

William James Glackens, Washington Square, 1910, oil on canvas, New Britain Museum of Art, CT.

John Sloan (American, 1871-1951), Fifth Avenue Critics, 1905, etching, image 12.7 x 17.6 cm, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA.

John Sloan, Turning Out the Light, 1905, etching, image 12.5 x 17.5 cm, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA.

John Sloan, Night Windows, 1910, etching, 5 1/4 x 7 inches. This was exhibited in the Armory Show of 1913.

John Sloan, "Tee Hee" Boys: Born with a Vote and a Partial Sense of the Ridiculous, 1912, ink and crayon, published in Collier's, May 18, 1912, as "Aw, Susie, be them dishes washed?" Library of Congress, Washington, DC. This crowd watches and jeers as a parade of suffragettes parade past. Suffragettes were women who campaigned for the right to vote.

John Sloan, Self-Portrait, Working, 1916, oil, Windsor & Newton Copal Varnish, wax finish on canvas, Hood Museum, Dartmout Collebe, VT. See self-portrait .

John Sloan, Hell Hole (Saloon Interior), 1917, etching and aquatint, image 19.9 x 25.1 cm, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA.

John Sloan, Nude, Pink Striped Coverlet, 1927, 13 1/2 x 15 inches, oil on canvas, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH.

Ernest Lawson (American, born Nova Scotia, 1873-1939), Harlem River at High Bridge, c. 1915, oil on canvas, 25 1/4 x 30 (64.1 x 76.2 cm) inches, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA.

Ernest Lawson, Segovia, c. 1916, oil on canvas, 33 x 37 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Ernest Lawson, Spring Tapestry, c.1930, oil on canvas, New Britain Museum of Art, CT.

Everett Shinn (American, 1876-1953), Dancer in White Before the Flootlights, 1910, oil on canvas, 35 x 39 inches, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH.

Everett Shinn, Outdoor Theatre, c. 1910, oil on canvas, 24 3/4 x 21 1/2 inches (62.9 x 54.6 cm), Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA. See theater.