The Ashcan School and The Eight: “Creating a National Art”
Bradley Family Gallery
Exhibitions are included with Museum admission and are free for Members.
Recognized as America’s first modern art movement, the Ashcan School and The Eight captured everyday life at the beginning of the 20th century, a moment of increasing industrialization and great cultural change. Rejecting what traditional art institutions considered appropriate, these artists embraced a loose painterly style to portray factories and immigrants, congested urban streets and bawdy entertainments. Some praised the artists as “creating a national art” while others dismissed them as painters of rubbish or “ashcans.”
The Ashcan School and The Eight: “Creating a National Art” re-examines these artists and the social issues they depicted, drawing parallels to those still relevant today. The Milwaukee Art Museum has one of the largest collections of works by the Ashcan School and The Eight in the United States, and the exhibition is drawn from this significant collection. Prints, drawings, paintings, and pastels by artists including Robert Henri, George Bellows, and John Sloan are featured, revealing the full range of the group’s subjects and artistic practices.
Upcoming Events
Member Preview Day: “The Ashcan School and The Eight”
Thu, September 22, 10:00 am–8:00 pm
Opening Lecture: “The Ashcan School and The Eight”
Thu, September 22, 6:15–7:15 pm
Gallery Talk: “The Ashcan School and The Eight”
Thu, September 29, 12:00–1:00 pm
Member Mingle + Gallery Talk: “The Ashcan School and The Eight”
Thu, October 13, 5:00–7:00 pm
Gallery Talk: “The Ashcan School and The Eight”
Thu, October 13, 6:00–7:00 pm
- George Benjamin Luks, Bleecker and Carmine Streets, New York, ca. 1905. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Abert and Mrs. Barbara Abert Tooman, M1976.14. Photo by John R. Glembin
- Robert Henri, Dutch Joe (Jopie van Slooten), 1910. Gift of the Samuel O. Buckner Collection, M1919.9. Photo by John R. Glembin
- John Sloan, Isadora Duncan, 1911. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Abert, M1969.27. Photo by P. Richard Eells. © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
- Robert Henri, Chinese Lady, 1914. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Donald B. Abert, M1965.61. Photo by John R. Glembin
- Maurice Prendergast (American, 1858–1924,) Picnic by the Sea, 1913–15. Oil on canvas. Gift of the Donald B. Abert Family in his memory, by exchange, M1986.49. Photo by Efraim Lev-er