Robert Henri


Henri, Robert

(hĕn`rī), 1865–1929, American painter and teacher, b. Cincinnati as Robert Henry Cozad. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1888 he went to Paris, where he worked at Julian's and the Beaux-Arts until, dissatisfied with the schools, he set up his own studio. In 1891 he returned to Philadelphia. As a member of the group of artists known as the EightEight, the,
group of American artists in New York City, formed in 1908 to exhibit paintings. They were men of widely different tendencies, held together mainly by their common opposition to academism.
..... Click the link for more information. , he participated in the rebellion against academic art. Henri became one of the foremost American art teachers. First in Philadelphia, then at the Chase School in New York City, at his own school (1909–12), and at the Art Students League he inspired his students with his dynamic concept of art. Opposed to the formalization of style, he viewed art as a medium to express life and especially humanity. Among his pupils were George BellowsBellows, George Wesley,
1882–1925, American painter, draftsman, and lithographer, b. Columbus, Ohio. The son of an engineer, architect, and builder, he left Ohio State Univ. in his senior year to study painting under Robert Henri in New York City.
..... Click the link for more information. , Rockwell KentKent, Rockwell,
1882–1971, American painter, muralist, wood engraver, lithographer, book and magazine illustrator, and writer, b. Tarrytown, N.Y. Kent studied with William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Edward HopperHopper, Edward,
1882–1967, American painter and engraver, b. Nyack, N.Y., studied in New York City with Robert Henri. Hopper lived in France for a year but was little influenced by the artistic currents there.
..... Click the link for more information. . In his own work, Henri excelled in dramatic portraits. Characteristic are his Spanish Gypsy (Metropolitan Mus.); Young Woman in Black, Himself, and Herself (Art Inst., Chicago); and Girl with a Fan (Pennsylvania Acad. of the Fine Arts).

Bibliography

See his Art Spirit (1960); study by W. I. Homer (1969).

Henri, Robert

 

Born June 25, 1865, in Cincinnati; died July 12, 1929, in New York. American painter and graphic artist.

Henri studied in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1885–88) and in Paris at the Julian Academy and the Ecole des Beaux Arts (1888–90). He worked in Philadelphia (1891–95), various European cities (1895–99), and New York. He was the leader of the group known as the Eight, or the ashcan school, and the founder of 20th-century American realism. He was the teacher of the ashcan school’s principal representatives. Henri contributed to American socialist magazines. His portraits, for example, Laughing Child (1907, Whitney Museum, New York) and The Masquerade Dress: Portrait of Mrs. Robert Henri (1911, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), are noted for their restrained expressiveness, warm attitude toward people, and democratic spirit.

REFERENCE

Homer, W. J., and V. Organ. Robert Henri and His Circle. Ithaca, N.Y., 1969.

Henri, Robert

(1865–1929) painter, teacher; born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Anshutz, and in Paris (1888). As a painter and a teacher he influenced a whole generation of artists, and became the founder of the so-called Ashcan school of painting, which stressed contemporary urban reality. In opposition to the restrictions of the National Academy, he set up an independent exhibition called "The Eight" (1908), whose members included John Sloan and George Luks. Although an academic painter, his teaching methods were considered radical at the time.