The Ten

The Ten, also known as The Ten Whitney Dissenters, were a group of New York–based artists active from 1935 to 1940. Expressionist in tendency, the group was founded to gain exposure for its members during the economic difficulty of the Great Depression, and also in response to the popularity of Regionalism which dominated the gallery space its members sought. Work exhibited by The Ten included figurative art; however some of its members later rose to prominence as abstract artists. Although short-lived, The Ten were a seminal group, noted by art historians in connection with its members Ilya Bolotowsky, Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Rothko. Background The tradition of artists jointly exhibiting work outside major venues extends at least as far back as Impressionism; this was typically done to circumvent the dominance of academic art and its associated institutions. Following their repeated rejections from the Salon, the Impressionists formed their own society in 1873—the Société Anonyme Coopérative des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, Graveurs ("Cooperative and Anonymous Association of Painters, Sculptors, and Engravers")—and began holding independent exhibitions in Paris. In the same vein, an American group of Impressionist artists known as "The Ten" formed in 1897 to exhibit independently of the Society of American Artists and the National Academy of Design, showing regularly in New York and other East Coast cities from 1898 to 1918. Further, another American group known as The Eight showed at the Macbeth Gallery in 1908, similarly to work around the National Academy of Design after certain of its members were not accepted for the Academy's spring 1907 show. Due to overlapping membership and their then-controversial depictions of urban scenery and the life of the working poor in New York, The Eight were closely associated with, but distinct from, The Ashcan school.