Bellows entered Henri's class at Chase's New York School of Art in 1904, and the two formed an enduring friendship. Although closely associated with the Ashcan style, Bellows never exhibited with the Eight. As Henri noted in a February 1927 diary entry: "George would naturally have been of the group but it antedated him. Many people now believe he was a member" (Homer, 130). The two artists painted and sketched together on Monhegan Island, Maine, in 1911. In later years, they were both active members of the National Arts Club, New York.