Where Sloan went for fresh air

Image: John Sloan (1871-1951), Sunflowers, Rocky Neck, 1914. Oil on canvas. Gift of Alfred Mayor and Martha M. Smith, 2008. [2008.14] "Sunflowers, Rocky Neck'' (circa 1914, oil on canvas),  by JOHN SLOAN, at the Cape Ann Museum, in Gloucester, Mass.

The museum notes that he spent five summers on Cape Ann, using its Maine-like backdrop to "experiment with color and explore ideas about form, texture and light.''

His Cape Ann work does not evoke his far more famous and gritty pictures of life in New York City as a member of the "Ashcan School''.