Skip to main contentProvenanceThe artist
Estate of the artist
Kraushaar Galleries, New York
Dr. Seymour Wadler, 1960 or 1965
Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1987
Exhibition HistoryPublished References
John Sloan
(American, 1871–1951)
A Band in the Back Yard
1907
Monotype in black on cream (or buff) wove paper
Image: 5 1/4 x 6 7/8 in. (13.3 x 17.5 cm)
Sheet: 8 3/4 x 11 in. (22.2 x 27.9 cm)
Mat: 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)
Sheet: 8 3/4 x 11 in. (22.2 x 27.9 cm)
Mat: 16 x 20 in. (40.6 x 50.8 cm)
Credit LineTerra Foundation for American Art, Daniel J. Terra Collection
Object number1987.30
SignedIn graphite, lower right: John Sloan; in monotype, lower right: John Sloan '07
InterpretationThree portly, dark-suited horn players gather for an impromptu open-air concert in the confined space of a tenement yard, as two women and a boy and a girl peering over the fence look on, in John Sloan's A Band in the Backyard. The scene is rendered in a technique as spontaneous as its subject. After brushing dark ink on a smooth surface, the artist moved a blunt tool rapidly through the pigment to create outlines and highlights to reveal the forms of the three musicians and their surroundings. By strategically placing line and tone, Sloan's image conveys the verve of this informal back yard entertainment.
A Band in the Backyard is a monotype, a single impression made by drawing through (and thus selectively removing) ink spread on a smooth surface. It was probably one of several that resulted from a particular evening in Sloan's studio, which contained an etching press that could be used to exert even pressure on the paper to transfer the ink. In his diary entry for April 7, 1907, Sloan recorded that friend and fellow artist Robert Henri joined him and they each made monotypes, including Henri's Satyr and Nymph (TF 1996.61). A Band in the Backyard is the first or one of the first of the dozen monotypes Sloan made between that evening in 1907 and 1916, when he exhibited several at two New York venues to demonstrate his facility in the medium. While his older contemporary Maurice Prendergast made numerous colorful monotypes, Sloan preferred monochromatic tones, focusing more closely on the characteristic gestures and activities of his human subjects in a manner influenced by his practical training as a newspaper artist-reporter.
A Band in the Backyard is a monotype, a single impression made by drawing through (and thus selectively removing) ink spread on a smooth surface. It was probably one of several that resulted from a particular evening in Sloan's studio, which contained an etching press that could be used to exert even pressure on the paper to transfer the ink. In his diary entry for April 7, 1907, Sloan recorded that friend and fellow artist Robert Henri joined him and they each made monotypes, including Henri's Satyr and Nymph (TF 1996.61). A Band in the Backyard is the first or one of the first of the dozen monotypes Sloan made between that evening in 1907 and 1916, when he exhibited several at two New York venues to demonstrate his facility in the medium. While his older contemporary Maurice Prendergast made numerous colorful monotypes, Sloan preferred monochromatic tones, focusing more closely on the characteristic gestures and activities of his human subjects in a manner influenced by his practical training as a newspaper artist-reporter.
Estate of the artist
Kraushaar Galleries, New York
Dr. Seymour Wadler, 1960 or 1965
Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., New York, New York
Terra Foundation for the Arts Collection, Chicago, Illinois, 1987
Exhibition History
Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 5–28, 1960.
Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C. (organizer). National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C., November 17, 1995–March 17, 1996; The New-York Historical Society, New York, New York, May 1–August 4, 1996. [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.
Héroïque et le quotidien: les artistes américains, 1820–1920 (The Extraordinary and the Everyday: American Perspectives, 1820–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 30, 2001. [exh. cat.]
Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 15–October 31, 2007.Terra Collection-in-Residence, Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, United Kingdom, September 15, 2022–September 30, 2026.
Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York, National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C. (organizer). National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C., November 17, 1995–March 17, 1996; The New-York Historical Society, New York, New York, May 1–August 4, 1996. [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.
Héroïque et le quotidien: les artistes américains, 1820–1920 (The Extraordinary and the Everyday: American Perspectives, 1820–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–November 30, 2001. [exh. cat.]
Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 15–October 31, 2007.Terra Collection-in-Residence, Ashmolean Museum of Art & Archaeology, Oxford, United Kingdom, September 15, 2022–September 30, 2026.
Zurier, Rebecca, Robert W. Snyder, and Virginia M. Mecklenburg. Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and Their New York. (exh. cat., National Museum of American Art). Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art in association with W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1995. Text pp. 119–20; fig. 126, p. 120. [specific reference to Terra print]
Moser, Joann. Singular Impressions: The Monotype in America. (exh. cat., National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution). Washington, D.C.: Published for the National Museum of American Art by Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. Fig. 62, pp. 66–67. [specific reference to Terra print]
Moser, Joann. Singular Impressions: The Monotype in America. (exh. cat., National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution). Washington, D.C.: Published for the National Museum of American Art by Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. Fig. 62, pp. 66–67. [specific reference to Terra print]