'John Sloane’s Societal Criticism\r'

'Art frequently serves as a criticism of society of a specific time period. A prime compositors case of this premise is John Sloan’s Sixth path & 30th Street, current York City. This piece depicts the intersection of these twain streets in early 20th century New York. In the foreground stands a drunken cleaning lady holding her pale of beer. To the right, two prostitutes stare at her and further to the right, a group of gentlemen stare at them. This kind of scene was common among the seedier streets of New York at the time though many did not actualise how common it was.Sloan, as part of the Ashcan inculcate made it his goal to realistically depict scenes of urban life. He did, however hold sympathy towards the pitiable who would have inhabited these kinds of streets. He sympathized with them and believed that their poor press out was caused by a society that had abandoned them. This mood of his is clearly represented in Sixth highroad & 30th Street. The g roup in the foreground of the painting, including the drunk and the prostitutes, would often be seen as negative by most members of society.Sloan, however, takes exception to this. He depicts them sympathetically, giving them a certain level of dignity that other painters wouldn’t have. He believed that these individuals had been abandoned and exploited by society, and oblige to take up such low roles. As Sloan was a member of the Socialist party, this came as no surprise. The gentleman to the right of this group serve as Sloan’s societal criticism. These men represent the agreeable of society.They stare at the unfortunate individuals in the foreground, skin perceptiveness no sympathy but only entertain at their state. This represented the overall attitude held by these kinds of people, which, Sloan felt, was a certain unwillingness to assist the worse-of members of society. On the surface, this piece depicts a standard realist scene of a New York. However, on a d eeper level, the piece is a criticism of what he felt was an unfair, exploitative society, which has been a common theme in art end-to-end history and especially of the time.\r\n'