The Armory Show of 1913 in New York City led to an unbelievable transformation in the way Americans began to perceive art, where the traditionally realistic forms they were well acquainted with were replaced with unique, shocking, and avant-garde pieces of work. This show was the end of an era of realism and propelled the American public towards a new modern epoch marked with depression, war, and disillusionment. This led artists and writers alike to question their art forms and to reject the realism of society and culture. They reworked their art in a way that emphasized an importance on time and consciousness. The artwork that the audience saw forced them to interpret these new shapes and colors and modes of expression into whatever they wanted to make of it because it was unlike anything ever seen before.
Paul Gauguin's Words of the Devil stood out a lot because it contradicts past notions of finding freedom in nature (like in Whitman's 'A Song of Myself') by showing a Tahitian woman who appears to be in exile of some sort. She's not alone, but being watched. Here the natural setting is not painted realistically and appears as a swirl of colors. The subject appears primitive and the colors used are bright and unnatural.
John Sloan's Sunday Women Drying Their Hair is set on a city rooftop with dark colors. At this time, people migrated into the cities to find work instead of out of the city toward nature. Here, the women do not appear self-conscious of their behavior, it's free and easy. They are not stuck at home, instead they are outside coiffing their hair. Women are baring their chests and showing skin, even showing a camaraderie often unseen in 19th century literature where women were normally depicted as alone and confined to the indoors.
