Robert Henri's vigorous ideas attract a group of young illustrators from the Philadelphia press: John Sloan, Everett Shinn, George Luks, and William J. Glackens.

A Cincinnati native, Henri had studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, from 1884 to 1888, and at both the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Upon returning to the United States in 1892 at twenty-seven, he became an instructor at the School of Design for Women in Philadelphia.

By 1895, Henri had come to reconsider his earlier love of Impressionism, calling it a "new academicism."

He was urging his friends and proteges to create a new, more realistic art that would speak directly to their own time and experience.

He believes that it is the right moment for American painters to seek out fresh, less genteel subjects in the modern American city.

The paintings by Henri, Sloan, Glackens, Luks, Shinn, and others of their acquaintance that are inspired by this outlook willl eventually come to be called the Ashcan School of American art.

They spurn academic painting and Impressionism as an art of mere surfaces.

Ashcan painters will begin to attract public attention in the same decade in which the realist fiction of Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, and Frank Norris finds its audience and the muckraking journalists are calling attention to slum conditions. 

For several years, Henri divides his time between Philadelphia and Paris, where he meets the Canadian artist James Wilson Morrice.

Morrice introduces Henri to the practice of painting pochades on tiny wood panels that can be carried in a coat pocket along with a small kit of brushes and oil.

This method facilitates the kind of spontaneous depictions of urban scenes that will come to be associated with his mature style.

Northeastern North America

(1900 to 1911 CE): Progressive Reforms, Technological Advances, and Social Transformations

The period from 1900 to 1911 in Northeastern North America was characterized by progressive reforms, groundbreaking technological advancements, intensified immigration, social transformations, and rising political and economic complexities. These changes profoundly shaped the region’s trajectory, influencing both urban and rural communities.

Progressive Era Reforms

The turn of the century saw a surge of progressive activism aimed at addressing the excesses of industrialization and urbanization. Reformers advocated for improved working conditions, labor rights, and the regulation of powerful monopolies. Activists like Jane Addams established settlement houses to support immigrants and the urban poor. Antitrust efforts intensified under Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and later William Howard Taft, targeting corporate giants such as Standard Oil and the American Tobacco Company.

Technological Innovations

Technological progress reshaped everyday life. The widespread adoption of automobiles, pioneered by industrialists like Henry Ford, began to transform transportation and city landscapes. Electrification expanded rapidly, enhancing industrial productivity and household convenience. Innovations such as the Wright brothers' successful powered flight in 1903 foreshadowed a new era of aviation.

Charles Rohlfs, a prominent figure in the Arts and Crafts movement, gained international recognition during this period. In 1900, he participated in the Arts and Crafts Exhibition at the National Arts Club in New York and was notably involved as both an exhibitor and organizer of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901, significantly enhancing his reputation. He further distinguished himself as the only American furniture maker at the International Exposition of Decorative Art in Turin in 1902, subsequently earning membership in the Royal Society of Arts in London. After retiring from furniture making around 1907, Rohlfs became a leading advocate for child labor reform and promoted the adoption of the metric system as a leader of the Chamber of Commerce in Buffalo.

Immigration and Urban Expansion

Mass immigration continued, particularly from Southern and Eastern Europe, significantly altering urban demographics. Cities like New York, Boston, and Philadelphia experienced rapid population growth and increased cultural diversity, prompting both vibrant cultural exchanges and social tensions. Ellis Island, New York, became a primary entry point for millions of newcomers.

Public Health and Social Challenges

Urban centers struggled with public health issues such as tuberculosis, cholera, and influenza. Cholera epidemics periodically swept through major cities, including severe outbreaks in New York, prompting widespread public health reforms. Efforts to improve sanitation and living conditions gained momentum, driven by reform movements and scientific understanding. Health education and infrastructure improvements contributed to declining mortality rates, although challenges remained substantial.

Cultural and Intellectual Movements

The era witnessed significant cultural and intellectual shifts. Realism and naturalism dominated literature, exemplified by writers such as Upton Sinclair, whose novel The Jungle (1906) exposed appalling conditions in the meatpacking industry, prompting widespread public outrage and regulatory reforms.

Artistic innovation flourished through movements such as the Ashcan School, led by artists like Robert Henri and George Bellows, who captured urban realities and everyday life in vivid, unidealized portrayals.

Political Dynamics

Politically, the era was marked by dynamic leadership. President William McKinley, re-elected in 1900, was assassinated in 1901, succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, whose progressive agenda included trust-busting, conservation efforts, and consumer protection legislation, notably the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Roosevelt's "Square Deal" emphasized fairness, conservation, and the regulation of powerful interests.

In Canada, continued nation-building efforts included railway expansion, notably the completion of additional transcontinental routes facilitating further western settlement and economic growth. Canadian immigration surged, with many immigrants eventually moving southward into the United States, significantly impacting labor and demographic trends.

Legacy of the Era (1900–1911 CE)

The early twentieth century established critical foundations for modern North America. Progressive reforms, immigration waves, technological innovations, and political activism collectively reshaped the region, setting the stage for further social and economic transformations in subsequent decades.

Robert Henri is again in Paris from 1898 to 1900; the American realist painter and teacher exhibits at the Salon.

Henri had married Linda Craige, a student from his private art class, in 1898, and the couple has spent the past two years on an extended honeymoon in France, during which time Henri had prepared canvases to submit to the Salon.

In 1899 he exhibited "Woman in Manteau" and La Neige ("The Snow"), which what been purchased by the French government for display in the Musée du Luxembourg.

Hammerstein's Roof Garden, a cabaret scene executed when William Glackens is thirty-one, is his first important oil painting and is exhibited at the Allen Gallery in New York in 1901 with Robert Henri and John Sloan and hereafter will gain favorable notice as an up-and-coming artist.

Glackens had studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and at the same time worked as an illustrator for the Philadelphia Record, the Public Ledger, and The Philadelphia Press.

In 1895 he spent a year in Paris and then settled in New York City, where he worked as an illustrator for the New York World, a position he attained through his friend and fellow illustrator George Luks, a painter who had also been a participant in the Henri studio sessions in Philadelphia.

Glackens later became a sketch artist for The New York Herald.

He also worked as an illustrator for various magazines, including McClure's Magazine, which sent him to Cuba to cover the Spanish–American War.

Glackens is making a living as a magazine illustrator, but his real passion lies in painting.