John Kane (1860-1934)

"Scottish scenes were a favorite with [John] Kane, who was born near Edinburgh and came to the United States from Scotland at the age of nineteen. After arriving in America, he traveled about as a manual laborer from job to job, eventually settling outside Pittsburgh, where, as it turned out, he was able to refresh his memory of the kilts and customs of his youth at the annual Scots' Day celebration." (Three Generations of Twentieth-Century Art: The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1972, p. 82) Kennywood, located just outside of Pittsburgh, was originally opened in 1899 as a trolley park, but by 1906 became the site of a family amusement park still open to this day.

Another painting of this same subject (Scotch Day at Kennywood, 1933) is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.