Turning Out the Light

In a modest bedroom, a nightgown-clad woman, kneeling on a rumpled bed, reaches up to extinguish a wall-mounted gas lamp as she glances invitingly back at a man reclining in the shadows. Skillfully orchestrating the interplay of dark and light, John Sloan drew a network of lines to create a murky area at the left, while at the right he used the white of the paper to convey light illuminating the wall, curtain, bed sheets, and highlights on the woman's torso, arms, and neck. Other details, such as a white dress loosely draped over a chair on the right and black stockings hanging on the bed railing, continue the suggestion of a covertly glimpsed private moment, a prelude to further intimacy.

  Among Sloan's most celebrated etchings, Turning Out the Light was one of ten in the series called New York City Life, all drawn from scenes observed by the artist, who had recently settled in New York. In 1906, Sloan was encouraged to submit the set for the annual juried exhibition of the American Watercolor Society. Four prints were rejected as too indecent for public display, including Turning Out the Light for its unmistakable implication of the couple's sexual relationship. Yet Sloan's title also focuses on the familiar, ordinary action habitually performed in preparation for bed and a night's sleep, while his depiction transforms the woman's momentary gesture into a timeless one: her pose is graceful, almost heroic, like one devised by a stage star or ballerina. With its combination of the banal and the universal, Sloan's etching may well have inspired Edward Hopper's print Evening Wind (TF 1994.20) of some sixteen years later, which shows a woman just about to climb into bed.

Sloan was self taught as an etcher. In 1888, he learned how to etch by reading a book about the technical process and by copying old master art. His earliest etchings, made in Philadelphia, were calendar pages and book illustrations. After he moved to New York in 1904, the majority of his prints were inspired by daily urban life as he evolved from commercial illustrator to fine art printmaker. Yet his keen eye for telling detail and his fascinated attention to everyday modern life reflect the continuing influence of his experience as a newspaper graphic artist. Sloan went on to make more than three hundred etchings in the course of his career. 

Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920 (The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 15, 1999; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1999–May 7, 2000 (in modified form). [exh. cat.]

On Process: The American Print, Technique Examined, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, January 13–March 2, 2001.

Morse, Peter. John Sloan's Prints: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Etchings, Lithographs, and Posters. New Haven, Connecticut, and London, England: Yale University Press, 1969. No. 134, pp. 143–44.

John Sloan, 1871–1951. (exh. cat., National Gallery of Art). Boston, Massachusetts: Boston Book & Art Publisher, 1971. No. 42, p. 87.

Scott, David W. John Sloan New York: Watson-Guptill, 1975. Text pp. 71, 75; ill. p. 74.

Sloan, Helen Farr, ed. John Sloan: New York Etchings (1905–1949). New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1979. No. 7.

Carey, Frances and Anthony Griffiths. American Prints 1879–1979: Catalogue of an Exhibition at the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum. (exh. cat., British Museum). London, England: The Trustees of the British Museum, 1980. No. 43, p. 30.

The Gloria and Donald B. Marron Collection of American Prints. (exh. cat., Santa Barbara Museum of Art). Santa Barbara, California: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1981. No. 54, p. 87.

Jacobowitz, Ellen S. and George H. Marcus. American Graphics 1860–1940: Selected from the Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1982. No. 20, pp. 22–23. [Note: The Philadelphia Museum of Art houses the most important collection of Sloan prints, including preparatory drawings, early and proof states.]

Kraft, James. John Sloan, A Printmaker. (exh. cat., International Exhibitions Foundation). Washington, D.C.: International Exhibitions Foundation, 1984. No. 17, p. 29; ill. no. 17.

Master Prints of Five Centuries, The Alan and Marianne Schwartz Collection. (exh. cat., The Detroit Institute of Arts). Detroit, Michigan: Founders Society, The Detroit Institute of Arts, 1990. No. 96, p. 115.

Hults, Linda C. The Print in the Western World: An Introductory History. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996. Text p. 729; fig. 12.30, p. 730.

Cartwright, Derrick R. The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 16, 26 (checklist); fig. 13, p. 16 (black & white). [specific reference to Terra print]

Cartwright, Derrick R. Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 16, 26 (checklist); fig. 13, p. 16 (black & white). [specific reference to Terra print]

Manthorne, Katherine. "John Sloan's Moving-Picture Eye." American Art 18:2 (Summer 2004): 80–95. Text p. 89; fig. 13, p. 89.