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In 1902 William Merritt Chase asked Robert Henri to join him on the faculty of the New York School of Art. In 1904 Henri opened a school on Broadway near what is now the site of Lincoln Center. Here he gathered the old artists from Philadelphia, along with others such as George Bellows and Reginald Marsh (who formed the second generation of the realist school). In 1905 Henri won a prize from the Art Institute of Chicago and in 1906 he was named to the National Academy of Design. Still, only a few minor prizes were awarded to other members of the group. Glackens, Sloan, Luks and Shinn were rejected by the Academy in 1907, so Henri withdrew his own paintings. Davies and Lawson were rejected one month later.  Henri, Glackens and Sloan decided to stage their own show. They encouraged Shinn and Luks to join them, along with Ernest Lawson, Arthur B. Davies and Maurice Prendergast. Each contributed $50 to rent the New York gallery of William MacBeth, one of the few dealers in America who was willing to display art that did not fit the accepted pattern.

The show opened on February 3, 1908. The public reaction was so favorable that police were called to keep order among people (7,000) clamoring for admission. The artists sold $4,000 of paintings. Seven pictures were sold, four to Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney.

Henri married a redhead named Marjorie Organ, but kept the courtship secret to not "trigger mass defections among the female students" Henri was leading to Spain.

"The Eight" went their own ways after the exhibit. In 1910 a major show of independent work (Exhibition of Independent Artists) was organized in New York. It was the first invitational show of its kind in America.There was no jury to decide acceptance of works and paintings were hung in alphabetical order. There were no prizes. This show was also a great success (80 artists, 2,500 visitors the first evening) and the Ash Can school was established as a major force in American art.

Most of them worked as artist-reporters in New York.
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The Eight had their big show in '08.