Man Monkey 1905

John Sloan made this etching, no date, to show us the lively spectacle of city life in the early twentieth century. Just imagine Sloan, maybe standing on a street corner, his mind racing to capture all the activity around him. There is an energy to the marks and the composition, as the cross-hatching describes the hustle and bustle, the chaotic beauty, and the unexpected moments of everyday life. His lines capture the figure of a street performer with a monkey, as the lively sounds of the city fill the air. Do you hear the organ grinder's music, the drumbeats of the one-man band? I think that Sloan, in his quick, expressive lines, gives us the feeling of the unexpected things that can happen on any given street corner. Sloan’s work always makes me want to get out into the world, look around, and capture all the stuff of life. Like other realist painters such as Courbet and Daumier, Sloan reminds us that art can be found anywhere we look for it.