14th Street, The Wigwam

1928

14th Street, The Wigwam, 1928. John Sloan (American, 1871–1951). Etching; platemark: 24.7 x 17.5 cm (9 3/4 x 6 7/8 in.); sheet: 46.3 x 31.8 cm (18 1/4 x 12 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. Charles G. Prasse Collection 1964.111 © Delaware Art Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York City streets were the site of socializing and entertainment as well as of political events and parades. Here, John Sloan depicted the street outside the headquarters of Tammany Hall, a fraternal society formed in 1789 that became a champion of the working class and was crucial to helping immigrants, especially the Irish, rise in politics in the early 1900s. The society was originally named for Chief Tamanend, a leader of the Lenape people during the colonial era, and its entirely white membership appropriated native terms, such as “wigwam,” into club lingo. By the time of Sloan’s print, the Tammany Society was a strong supporter of the Democratic Party but also known for corruption. The year that Sloan made this print depicting the headquarters of the Tammany Society on fourteenth street, the society sold the building and relocated to Union Square.