John Sloan's most important prints belong to his New York City Life Series begun in 1905 and continuing until 1940.  One of his earlier works, Fifth Avenue Critics, is an "upscale" scene, more satirical than his later "lowlife" prints.  The New York City Life Series, capturing the immediacy and vitality of city life in a medium that could be made readily available to the public at low cost, was unique to its time and retains its interest for modern viewers.  At the turn of the century, before photography was readily available, Sloan began his career as an illustrator for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Herald.  He received prestigious awards for his etchings, including the 1915 Bronze Medal at the Pan-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco and the 1926 Gold Medal from the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exhibition.

Sloan is well known as an American realist painter of urban scenes.  With Henri, Glackens, Luks, and Shinn, he formed the "Ash Can School," later joined by Prendergast, Lawson, and Davies to become "The Eight."  This influential band of artists, who exhibited together first in 1908, painted realistic contemporary scenes unlike the idealistic styles preferred by the art academies.  Their preference for urban themes, allied their work with the reformers and muckraking journalists of their era.