The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 23, 2025
Hell Hole
1917
(American, 1871–1951)
Platemark: 20.1 x 24.9 cm (7 15/16 x 9 13/16 in.); Sheet: 27.5 x 33.7 cm (10 13/16 x 13 1/4 in.)
Gift of Ralph King 1926.123
© Delaware Art Museum / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Catalogue raisonné: Morse 186
Location: Not on view
Did You Know?
The Golden Swan, or Hell Hole bar, depicted here, was the inspiration for the saloon in the Eugene O’Neill’s play The Iceman Cometh,written in 1939.Description
The Golden Swan bar, nicknamed the Hell Hole, was a gathering place for the Ashcan artists, writers, and intellectuals in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. John Sloan’s etching shows the back room of the establishment, which allowed female patrons and was patrolled by the bouncers known as Lefty Louis and John Bull, seen at the doorway. The cheerful clientele enjoy alcohol, intimate conversation, and heavy flirtation. Sloan depicted the playwright Eugene O’Neill at the upper right, whose plays include characters on the fringes of society. Sloan’s use of aquatint, a printmaking technique that creates tone in the image, adds to the smoky atmosphere of the late-night scene.- Ashcan School Prints and the American City, 1900–1940. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 18-December 26, 2021).Generous Donors: A Tribute to The Print Club of Cleveland. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991).Urban Vicissitudes. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 2-September 29, 1985).A Golden Age of American Printmaking. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 12-April 11, 1982).Prints of the Fifteenth to Twentieth Century from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 5-September 12, 1934).
- {{cite web|title=Hell Hole|url=false|author=John Sloan|year=1917|access-date=23 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1926.123