Updated November 19, 2019. Robert Henri was a major proponent of a gritty style of urban realism around the turn of the century. Robert Henri’s most popular book is Winesburg, Ohio. Ashcan School realism rooted itself in a sense of reporting on modern urban life. While sticking to a specific style of realism in his painting for most of his career, Robert Henri encouraged and fought for artistic freedom among working artists. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Henri, Spartacus Educational - Biography of Robert Henri, American Art at The Phillips Collection - Biography of Robert Henri, National Gallery of Art, Washington - Biography of Robert Henri, Traditional Fine Arts Organization - Robert Henri: American Icon. Student of: Thomas Pollock Anschutz (1851-1912). View Robert Henri’s 659 artworks on artnet. He graduated from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Academy Julian. Overview ↓ Biography ↓ Songs ↓ Credits ↓ At an early age he moved with his family to Cozad, Nebraska, a town his father founded. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Robert Henri was born with the surname Cozad, but took a new identity in 1881 when his father was indicted for manslaughter in Denver. See available paintings, works on paper, and prints and multiples for sale and learn about the artist. The first of those groups became known as the "Philadelphia Four" and included realist painters William Glackens, George Luks, Everett Shin, and John Sloan. His early paintings follow the impressionist tradition. Henri began exploring the color theories of Hardesty Maratta later in his career. “ Yes, and note how simple, direct and fresh! 1985. His family fled to the East Coast and Henri enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. A painting such as Himself (1913) reveals his facile brushwork, lively palette, and ability to catch fleeting gestures and expressions. Henri traveled there in the summers of 1916, 1917, and 1922. There, he painted many portraits of children. His style was shaped by early years in Europe in the 1890s, where he discovered the vigorous brushwork of William Gedney Bunce, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Édouard Manet, and Diego Velázquez. Henri adopted the motto "art for life's sake," in place of the more traditional "art for art's sake." By 1895, Robert Henri began to reject impressionism. Henri became fascinated by the realism of his teacher, Thomas Eakins, who counseled his students to study their own country and to "portray its types." Robert Henri, (born June 25, 1865, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.—died July 12, 1929, New York, New York), urban realist painter, a leader of The Eight and the Ashcan School and one of the most influential teachers of art in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. After studying in Philadelphia, the young artist went to Paris to hone his skills at the Académie Julian. 1984. Robert Henri was born Robert Henry Cozad in Cincinnati, Ohio to Theresa Gatewood Cozad of Malden, Virginia and John Jackson Cozad, a gambler and real estate developer. Although elected in 1906 to the National Academy of Design, Henri became enraged when, the following year, the works of his realist colleagues were rejected. His fiancee is Marjorie Organ (m. 1905). John Cozad became Richard Henry Lee, and young Robert posed as an adopted son named Robert Henri. In the first decade of the twentieth century, Henri's reputation as a gifted portrait painter grew. After moving around and living in several different cities, his family settled in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In 1913, the year of the Armory Show, Robert Henri traveled to the west coast of Ireland and rented a house near Dooagh on Achill Island. Robert Henri Charles van Maasdijk is Chief Executive Officer at Alternative Investment Fund Ltd. View Robert Henri Charles van Maasdijk’s professional profile … The artists saw immigrant and working-class life in New York City as worthy subject matter for painters. Santa Fe, New Mexico, was another favorite destination. , France, in Cincinnati, in 1888 at the Academie Julien and the dex... Painters and emerging realist fiction by Stephen Crane, Theodore Dreiser, and draughtsman biography ↓ ↓... It even if you wanted to just north of the leading edge of contemporary art. `` Dress. Of his favorite subjects 25, 1865 - died 1929 titled `` Masquerade. Figure of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia in 1866 and took classes with Thomas Anshutz, who was a.! 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