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Image Not Available for Patrol Party
Patrol Party
Image Not Available for Patrol Party

Patrol Party

Maker (American, 1871-1951)
Date1921
MediumEtching on paper
DimensionsSheet: 7 x 8 1/4 in. (17.8 x 21 cm)
Sight: 3 1/2 x 4 in. (8.9 x 10.2 cm)
Credit LineBequest of Ruth Philbrick
Collections
Object number2010.65
Status
Not on view
Description
An invitation for a studio party during Prohibition, this print satirized the ban on alcohol consumption by showing a police paddy wagon bursting with revelers.  The figure in the foreground may be a visual pun referring to the expression “falling off the wagon,” used by temperance movement advocates to describe recovering alcoholics who had lapsed.  An opponent of Prohibition, Sloan produced several works about the subject, choosing to focus on working-class saloons such as McSorley’s rather than upscale speakeasies.