Henri encouraged his friend and protégé John Sloan (1871-1951) to portray what was most familiar to him--the streets and sidewalks of the American urban landscape.  In fact, Sloan happened upon the scene depicted in Hairdresser's Window on the ay to visit Henri at his New York studio.  He was so taken with the hairdresser's shop that he returned home to paint it from memory and, in his words, "without disguise."  In the signs adorning the facade, Sloan introduced amusing puns such as one announcing the shop of :Madame Malcomb."  Because Sloan and his fellow Ashcan  School painters searched for artistic potential within the most commonplace subjects, including commercial advertisements, they can be regarded as early forerunners of the 1960s Pop art.  Andy Warhol, for example, admired Sloan's work.