The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of January 30, 2023

Copyist at the Metropolitan Museum

1908

John Sloan

(American, 1871–1951)

America, 20th century

Etching

Platemark: 18.5 x 22.4 cm (7 5/16 x 8 13/16 in.); Sheet: 32.4 x 45 cm (12 3/4 x 17 11/16 in.)

Gift of Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. 1947.382

© Delaware Art Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Catalogue raisonné: Morse 148.VIII

State: VIII/VIII

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Fifth Avenue building opened in 1902, and quickly became a leisure and culture destination for New Yorkers.

Description

John Sloan took pleasure in satirizing his own profession and particularly the aura that surrounded some art objects, artists, and collectors. This image may express amusement at the common phenomenon of spectators taking interest in a painting only when it is admired by others. Sloan included a self-portrait and a portrait of his wife, Dolly, in the foreground.

Exhibition history

Graphic Humor. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 1-August 29, 1982).

Urban Vicissitudes. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 25-September 29, 1985).

Ashcan School Prints and the American City, 1900-1940. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 18-December 26, 2021).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1947.382