1865 -1929 · Philadelphia, New York and American realism

Direct portraits, urban scenes and independent teaching make Robert Henri the leader of an American art linked to modern life.

Robert Henri was born Robert Henry Cozad in Cincinnati in 1865 and died in New York in 1929. After a legal case involving his father, the family changed its identity; the young artist retains the name Robert Henri. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Anshutz, then in Paris at the Académie Julian and the École des beaux-arts. From Manet, Hals and Velazquez, he retained the frankness of the gesture, the dark backgrounds and the immediate presence of the model. Returning to Philadelphia, he retained the frankness of the gesture, the dark backgrounds and the immediate presence of the model. From Manet, Hals and Velazquez, he retained the frankness of the gesture, the dark backgrounds and the immediate presence of the model. Returning to Philadelphia, he gathered around him John Sloan, William Glackens, George Luks and Everett Shinn, press illustrators attentive to the contemporary street. In New York, he became the host of the Eight exhibition, organized against academic conservatism. Volendam Street Scene and Night Café with Japanese Lanterns bear witness to his travels and his taste for an observed life without idealization. Yet Henri remains above all a portraitist. Portrait of Carl Sprinchorn and Portrait of Dorothy Wagstaff favor attitude, gaze and energy of the brush with meticulous description. A passionate teacher, he encourages his students - George Bellows, Edward Hopper, Stuart Davis, Rockwell Kent and Yasuo Kuniyoshi - to seek their own subject in the living world. A passionate teacher, he encourages his students - George Bellows, Edward Hopper, Stuart Davis, Rockwell Kent and Yasuo Kuniyoshi - to seek their own subject in the living world. His ideas came together after his death in The Art Spirit. Henri thus links Ashcan School, modern portrait and pedagogy of independence, with constant conviction: painting must convey the intensity of an encounter. The "Robert Henri" selection notably compares Volendam Street Scene and Night Café with Japanese lanterns. His reading favors the story.

Henri paints less of a face than a moment of presence: a few broad touches are enough to reveal the character.