American, 1888-1986

Waldo Midgley, though born in Salt Lake City, spent most of his productive artistic life in New York City and felt most at home there. He arrived in 1907 and gravitated toward members of The Eight, all of whom later became members of the Ashcan School. He received important instruction from Robert Henri, and became friends and colleagues with Arthur Davies, William Glackens, Ernest Lawson, John Sloan and other significant American artists of the time. As art historian Donna Poulton noted, Midgley became part of an approach to art that, “rejected the constrained conservatism of the National Academy of Design in favor of art that expressed forceful themes and rich subject matter, and that captured the excitement of New York scenes and people.”