Super Eight
The historic first exhibition of a group of American artists known as "the Eight" took place in February of 1908.In 1907 eight American painters—Robert Henri, George Luks, John Sloan, William Glackens, Everett Shinn, Maurice Prendergast, Arthur Davies, and Ernest Lawson—joined forces to protest against the National Academy of Design in New York City, which they believed was failing to support progressive developments in art. In protest, they held a joint exhibition in at the MacBeth Galleries in New York in 1908.
Robert Henri, a member of the 1907 National Academy of Design jury, instigated the breakaway group, known as the "the Eight." He is shown above, front row, second from the left, in this official group portrait, presumably made before more conservative members of the Academy's jury rejected works by his friends and students. Henri also appears below in a portrait taken by the Peter A. Juley and Son studio.
Pictured top: Photograph of Academy of Design Jury, 1907, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Peter A. Juley & Son Collection.
Pictured bottom: Portrait of Robert Henri (1865–1929), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Peter A. Juley & Son Collection.
The historic first exhibition of a group of American artists known as "the Eight" took place in February of 1908.In 1907 eight American painters—Robert Henri, George Luks, John Sloan, William Glackens, Everett Shinn, Maurice Prendergast, Arthur Davies, and Ernest Lawson—joined forces to protest against the National Academy of Design in New York City, which they believed was failing to support progressive developments in art. In protest, they held a joint exhibition in at the MacBeth Galleries in New York in 1908.