For Delaney, New York City offered crowds of people constantly in movement, on the streets or in the subway.

Reginald Marsh, an instructor of the Art Students League, once visited Delaney's studio and said, "Joe, why do you make them so hard to look at?" Delaney replied that he painted all the people who are in a scene - regardless of their looks. No one, a down-and-out bum, a prostitute, or ill-proportioned person was left out just to make the painting "easier to look at." 44