Eric Sloane was born Everard Jean Hinrichs in New York City.  Before receiving any formal training, he traveled the country as an itinerant sign painter and spent a brief period studying meteorology at MIT.  In 1929, he enrolled at the Yale School of Fine Arts for one year.  He later studied at the School of Fine and Applied Arts in New York and the Art Students League where he worked under John Sloan whom he considered to be his mentor.  It was after studying with John Sloan around 1930 that he changed his name from Everard Jean Hinrichs to Eric Sloane; adding an “e” to the ending of the last name. 

While traveling throughout the Northeast in 1925, Sloane developed a love of the New England countryside filled with farmhouses, covered bridges and barns.  He later settled in Warren, Connecticut where he also kept his studio.  He made his first trip to Taos, New Mexico in 1926 and was immediately taken with the heritage of the Southwest.  While in New Mexico he spent time working with other Taos painters such as Leon Gaspard.  He kept a home in Santa Fe and split his time between New Mexico and Warren, Connecticut.

References: See Who Was Who In American Art (1999).; Obit., Antiques & the Arts Weekly
(15 March 1985).