Robert Henri

Robert Henri was an American painter celebrated for his vigorous, economical brushwork and his rejection of academic polish in favor of vitality. Deeply influenced by Édouard Manet, he turned his attention to the unvarnished life of the modern city — a stance that would shape the young painters of the Ashcan School.

He was born Robert Henry Cozad on June 25, 1865, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Around 1882 he took a new surname, distancing himself from a father who had recently killed a man. He trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia and then in Paris, where he studied at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts.

Returning to Philadelphia in 1891, Henri drew a circle of newspaper illustrators around him, among them John Sloan; George Bellows would join his orbit later in New York. Teaching became central to his practice — first in Philadelphia, then at the Art Students League — and produced students including Stuart Davis, Edward Hopper, and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. His lectures and letters were gathered in The Art Spirit (1923), still a touchstone for artists a century on. He believed art was something an artist gives to the world, and that the giving is its own pleasure.

Henri spent his later years painting in New Mexico and Ireland, drawn to the faces of people outside the urban mainstream. He died in New York on July 12, 1929. His work is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musée d'Orsay, and Tate, among many others.Robert Henri was an American painter celebrated for his vigorous, economical brushwork and his rejection of academic polish in favor of vitality. Deeply influenced by Édouard Manet, he turned his attention to the unvarnished life of the modern city — a stance that would shape the young painters of the Ashcan School.

He was born Robert Henry Cozad on June 25, 1865, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Around 1882 he took a new surname, distancing himself from a father who had recently killed a man. He trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia and then in Paris, where he studied at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts.

Returning to Philadelphia in 1891, Henri drew a circle of newspaper illustrators around him, among them John Sloan; George Bellows would join his orbit later in New York. Teaching became central to his practice — first in Philadelphia, then at the Art Students League — and produced students including Stuart Davis, Edward Hopper, and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. His lectures and letters were gathered in The Art Spirit (1923), still a touchstone for artists a century on. He believed art was something an artist gives to the world, and that the giving is its own pleasure.

Henri spent his later years painting in New Mexico and Ireland, drawn to the faces of people outside the urban mainstream. He died in New York on July 12, 1929. His work is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musée d'Orsay, and Tate, among many others.