Eight, The

Eight, the, group of American artists in New York City, formed in 1908 to exhibit paintings. They were men of widely different tendencies, held together mainly by their common opposition to academism. They were stigmatized as the "ashcan" school because they abandoned decorous subject matter and portrayed the more common aspects of American life. The group comprised Arthur B. Davies, a romanticist; Maurice Prendergast, Ernest Lawson, and William Glackens, impressionists; Everett Shinn, an illustrator; Robert Henri, a singularly honest virtuoso; and John Sloan and George Luks, at that time followers of Henri. These men, and above all Davies, were responsible for the Armory Show of 1913, which introduced modern European art to a shocked, recalcitrant, but curious America. In 1917, together with George Bellows and other adherents, they organized the Society of Independent Artists. Modern American painting owes much to their efforts and their example.

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Eight, The

Group of U.S. painters who reacted against the traditions of the National Academy of Design. The original eight—Robert Henri, Everett Shinn (1876–1953), John Sloan, Arthur B. Davies (1862–1928), Ernest Lawson (1873–1939), Maurice Prendergast, George Luks (1867–1933), and William Glackens—were later joined by George Wesley Bellows. In 1908 they exhibited together in New York City. Saloons, tenements, pool halls, and slums were among their favourite subjects, and their style was rough and realistic. Their careers took various directions, and a few years later they were absorbed into the Ash Can school.