McSorley's Back Room (Back Room of McSorley's Bar)

Inscriptions

Signed, lower left: John Sloan; inscribed on tacking edge: McSORLEY'S BACK ROOM. Date is from recorded diary entries.

Label

John Sloan’s early experience as a newspaper and magazine illustrator honed his ability to capture quickly the vital, sometimes less glamorous, aspects of everyday urban life. He relished his role as an observer of modern life as played out on the streets, on rooftops, and at local gathering places, including restaurants and bars. Between 1912 and 1930, he produced several works depicting McSorley’s “Old House at Home,” a New York tavern founded in 1854 and still in business today. The hushed, contemplative mood of this painting echoes Sloan’s description of the bar as an oasis “where the world seems shut out—where there is no time, or turmoil.” The tavern’s founder was no longer living when Sloan discovered the place, but through this painting and a related etching Sloan appears to pay homage to John McSorley, who, according to his son, “always sat there in the sun.” The tavern remained an all-male domain until the 1970s.

John Sloan was a cousin to Dartmouth College’s president, John Sloan Dickey, and in 1951 spent a summer painting in Hanover, where he died that fall. The museum now holds thirty-eight prints, drawings, and paintings by Sloan.

From the 2019 exhibition American Art, Colonial to Modern, curated by Barbara J. MacAdam, Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art

Course History

WRIT 5, Expository Writing, Carl Thum, Winter 2013

English 52.19, Poverty in American LIterature: 1861-1925, Colleen Boggs, Spring 2023

English 52.19, Poverty in American Literature: 1861-1925, Colleen Boggs, Spring 2023

English 52.19, Poverty in American LIterature: 1861-1925, Colleen Boggs, Spring 2023

Exhibition History

17th Annual Exhibition, Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, April 24-June 30, 1913.

25th Anniversary Exhibition: Selected AMerican paintings 1750- 1950, The Westmoreland County Museum of Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, May 18 - July 22, 1984.

American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 9-December 9, 2007.

American Art, Colonial to Modern, Israel Sack Gallery and Rush Family Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26, 2019-September 12, 2021.

American Viewpoints: Painting and Sculpture from the Hood Museum of Art, Timken Museum of Art, San Diego, California, May 5-August 31, 2003.

Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, March 14, 2016-June 30, 2018.

Carpenter Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1947.

Churchill P. Lathrop at Dartmouth 1928-1978, Strauss and Barrows Galleries, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 20-November 26, 1978.

Director's Choice, Jaffe-Friede Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 10-July 10, 1966.

In Memoriam, (American Federation of Arts Traveling Exhibition), National Arts Club, New York, New York, September 10-20, 1955; Watkins Institute, Nashville, Tennessee, October 1-22, 1955; Hunter Gallery, Chatanooga, Tennessee, November 10-30, 1955; Gates Gallery, Port Arthur, Texas, December 14, 1955-January 4, 1956; Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas, January 18-February 8, 1956; University of Manitoba, Canada, February 25-March 24, 1956; Atlanta Public Library, Georgia, April 7-28, 1956; Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa, May 12-June 3, 1956; State University of Iowa, Iowa City, June 17-August 21, 1956.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, February 16, 1999-August 12, 2002.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 21, 1992-May 22, 1995.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 2, 2009-March 13, 2016.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 1, 2003-May 8, 2007.

Israel Sack Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 16, 1997-May 28, 1998.

John Sloan 1871-1951, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., September 18-October 31, 1971; Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, Georgia, November 20, 1971-January 16, 1972; M.H. DeYoung Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California, February 15-April 2, 1972; City Art Museum of St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, May 4-June 18, 1972; Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, Ohio, July 13-August 13, 1972; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 6-October 22, 1972.

John Sloan Retrospective Exhibition, Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts, March 1938.

John Sloan, Lenawee Fine Arts Association, Adrian, Michigan, January 7-19, 1969 (no.#)

John Sloan: Spectator of Life, IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, New York, April 26-June 18, 1988; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Deleware, July 15-September 4, 1988; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, September 17-November 6, 1988; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, November 20, 1988-January 1, 1989.

John Sloan: Paintings, Prints and Drawings, Jaffe-Friede, Strauss and Barrows Galleries, Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 2, 1981-January 3, 1982; DeCordova and Dana Museum and Park, Lincoln, Massachusetts, January 23-March 7, 1982; Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan, March 18-May 2, 1982; Elvehjem Museum of Art, Madison, Wisconsin, June 12-August 1, 1982; Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio, September 11-October 24, 1982; Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, November 6, 1982- January 2, 1983.

John Sloan: Paintings, Prints, Carpenter Galleries of the Department of Art and Archaeology, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 1-August 1, 1946.

Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and their New York, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., November 17, 1995-March 17, 1996; New York Historical Society, New York, New York, May 1-August 4, 1996.

Milestones of American Painting in Our Century, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, January 20-March 1,1949; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs; M.H. DeYoung Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California; Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, California (dates unknown).

Modern Art, Carpenter Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, April 22-May 14, 1948.

New York Realists: 1900-1914, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York, February 9-March 5, 1937.

Oil Paintings by John Sloan, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 19-December 23, 1961.

Paintings by John Sloan, C.W. Kruashaar Galleries, New York, New York, March 11-20, 1918.

Picturing New York: Images of the City, 1890-1955, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 31-June 21, 1992.

Seeing the City: Sloan's New York, organized by the Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware; exhibited at Westmoreland Museum of American Art, Greensburg, Pennsylvania, February 10- April 27, 2008; The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, May 22- September 14, 2008; Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, October 4, 2008- January 4, 2009.

The Life and Times of John Sloan, The Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts, Delaware Art Center, Wilmington, Deleware, September 22-October 29, 1961.

The Lower East Side: Portal to American Life 1870-1924, Jewish Museum, New York, New York, September 21-November 16, 1967; Arts and Industrial Building, Washington, D.C., December 16, 1967-January 18, 1968.

The Protean Century, 1870-1970, A Loan Exhibition from The Dartmouth College Collection, Alumni and Friends of the College [under the auspices of the Dartmouth Arts Council], M. Knoedler & Company, Inc, New York, New York, February 10-28, 1970.

Publication History

Rebecca Zurier, Robert W. Snyder, Virginia M. Mecklenburg, Metropolitan Lives: The Ashcan Artists and their New York, Washington, D.C.: National Museum of American Art; New York: Norton, 1995.

Barbara J. MacAdam, "Picturing New York: Images of the City, 1890-1955" (exhibition brochure), Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1992, no. 56.

Rowland Elzea, John Sloan's Oil Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonne, Part I, Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1991, p. 118, no. 196.

Rowland Elzea and Elizabeth Hawkes, John Sloan: Spectator of Life, Wilmington, Delaware: Delaware Art Museum, 1988, p. 93, no. 57.

Documentary on McSorley's, March 1987.

Dr. Shamoian, "Divorce Among the Elderly", Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality, Secaucus, New Jersey: Hospital Publications, Inc., August 1986.

American Heritage Winter Art Show, 1986.

Treasures of the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1985, p. 137, ill. no. 130.

Barbara J. MacAdam, "American paintings in the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Antiques Magazine, November 1985, p. 1027, plate XII.

25th Anniversary Exhibition: Selected American Paintings 1750-1950, Greensburg, Pennsylvania: The Westmoreland County Museum of Art, 1984, no. 100, ill. plate no. 80.

Grant Holcomb, "John Sloan and 'McSorley's Wonderful Saloon'", The American Art Journal, Volume XV, Number 2, Spring 1983, p. 9, fig. 5.

John Sloan: Paintings, Prints and Drawings (exhibition catalogue), Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1981, p. 42-43, no. 10.

Arthur R. Blumenthal, Portraits at Dartmouth (exhibition catalgoue), Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1978, p. .

John Sloan 1871-1951 (exhibition catalogue), Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1971, ill. no. 75.

The Protean Century: 1870-1970 (exhibition catalogue), Hanover, New Hampshire: The Trustees of Dartmouth College, 1970, no. 58.

Samuel Hunter, Modern American Painting and Sculpture, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1968?, p.---, no.---.

John Sloan, John Sloan's New York Scene, 1906-1913, New York: Harper & Row, 1965, p.____. no.____.

The Lower East Side: Portal to American Life 1870-1924 (exhibition catalogue or checklist), New York: Jewish Museum, 1966, no. 38.

Oil Paintings by John Sloan (exhibition catalogue or checklist), Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 1961, no. 26.

The Life and Times of John Sloan (exhibition catalogue), Wilmington: Delaware Art Center, 1961, no. 16.

In Memoriam (exhibition catalogue), New York: American Federation of Arts, 1955, no. 31.

Milestones of American Painting in Our Century (exhibition catalogue), Boston: Institute of Contemporary Art, 1949, ill. no. 2.

John Sloan: Painting, Prints (exhibition catalogue), Hanover, New Hampshire: Carpenter Galleries of the Department of Art and Archaeology, Dartmouth College, 1946, no. 6.

John Sloan Retrospective Exhibition (exhibition catalogue), Andover, Massachusetts: Addison Gallery of American Art, 1938, ill. no. 11.

New York Realists: 1900-1914 (exhibition catalogue), New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1937, no. 69.

Paintings by John Sloan (exhibition catalogue), New York: C.W. Kraushaar Galleries, 1918, no. 11.

17th Annual Exhibition (exhibition catalogue), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Carnegie Institute, 1913, no. 290.

American Viewpoints (brochure for exhibition), San Diego, California: Timken Museum of Art, May 9-August 31, 2003, 8 pp., checklist no. 17.

William E. Wander, "McSorley's 150 Year Anniversary, 2004 Calendar", designed and produced by Robert Schroeder, publisher address: 15 East 7th Street, New York, NY 10003, December 2003, "October" image.

Barbara J. MacAdam, American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Muesum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2007, p. 83, no. 59.

John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 139, ill. plate no. 70.

Provenance

Julia Peck; C. W. Kraushaar Art Galleries, New York; sold to present collection, 1946.

Catalogue Raisonne

Elzea: 196

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