American painter William Glackens (1870-1938) reacted against the academic restrictions of his period, combining a vivid impressionism with a firm sense of structure in his work.

William Glackens was born in Philadelphia on March 13, 1870. After he completed high school (where John Sloan and Albert C. Barnes were his classmates), he became an artist-reporter for Philadelphia newspapers. He attended night classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, studying with Thomas Anshutz. Glackens shared a studio with Robert Henri; in 1895 they worked their way to Europe on a cattle boat. In Holland and Paris they studied the Dutch masters, Diego Velázquez, and Francisco Goya. On his return to New York in 1896, Glackens worked for newspapers and commenced a long career as a magazine illustrator. McClure's Magazine sent him to Cuba in 1898 to cover the Spanish-American War, which he did brilliantly.

Glackens began exhibiting his paintings in 1901, attracting...