Robert Henri's Good Theory and Earnest Practice: The Humanistic Values of an American Painter

Extract

Robert Henri, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1865, was the acknowledged leader of the “Ash-Can” School of painters. The other members were George Luks, William J. Glackens, John Sloan, and Everett Shinn. Branded as “revolutionaries” and “apostles of ugliness” after the turn of the century, because their work and theory seemed to rub against the grain of contemporary American artistic taste and its conception of acceptable aesthetic good manners, they came into conflict with the respectable and conventional painters, critics, and art dealers in the early years of the twentieth century. Although they were a group of artists obviously in the minority, their independent exhibitions were applauded by a proportionately small—yet highly vocal—number of newspaper and magazine critics. However, it was Henri, rather than any critic, who led the way in articulating their theories and practice and who made it impossible for their work to be ignored. He was the group's intellectual spokesman, artistic catalyst, and revered father figure.