Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
American, 1865-1929
Born Robert Henry Cozad, Robert shared a lineage with Mary Cassatt, making them cousins. Henri kept secret that relationship much as he did his birth name, in an effort to erase the reputation of a murder conviction against his father John Cozad. Robert's childhood reads like a Bret Harte short story. From card shark to real estate speculator, Henri's father moved the family from Cincinnati to Nebraska in a series of speculative land development projects. A disgruntled employee attacked Robert's father, and in self-defense his gun fired, killing the attacker. The murder conviction, later pardoned, led to the family's fleeing to Colorado, and assuming new identities. Robert Henri was sent to boarding school in New York, where he showed talent in writing and theater, creative endeavors encouraged by his mother. He discounted his creativity, thinking "artists surprised their parents... by doing masterpieces in their infancy... and [he] was not of that class" (Perlman). Nevertheless, painting buildings his father acquired in Atlantic City and producing political cartoons and color sketches for a small "museum" in his father's store caught the attention of admirers who encouraged Robert's art. James Albert Cathcart persuaded Henri to study at his alma mater, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where Henri enrolled in 1886.
Robert Henri’s strong connection to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts began when he enrolled as a student in 1886. He entered the Academy eight months after Thomas Eakins had resigned. Despite Eakins’s absence, his strong influence on the curriculum at PAFA remained and it affected Henri profoundly. Eakins had instituted new educational policies at the Academy that were some of the most progressive in the country.
Thomas Anshutz played an important role in Henri’s development as an artist. He upheld many of Eakins’s ideas and continued to build upon his teaching method; however, Anshutz was also open to change and cultivated individual artistic expression. A devoted teacher, he did not impose artistic formulas. Henri valued Anshutz’s criticism greatly, and determined to succeed as an artist, he worked tirelessly as his student.
After studying for three years in Paris from 1888 to 1891, Henri returned to Philadelphia and the halls of the Academy. Steeped in Anshutz’s call for realism and plain painting without bravura, Henri challenged himself and the other artists he influenced to “paint what you feel . . . paint what is real to you.” And so began his lifelong pursuit of painting “life in the raw,” without what he deemed “academic artifice.” He promoted this credo to his many students and perhaps popularized it most in his sensational 1908 exhibition at Macbeth Gallery, where he and a group of artists, eventually called The Eight, mounted a show that was a direct affront to the National Academy of Design’s rejection of their work and the modernist spirit that shaped them as artists. Henri met four of the artists who made up The Eight, William Glackens, John Sloan, Everett Shinn, and George Luks, in Philadelphia, where they all took classes at PAFA.to
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
4
411
329
251
214
1
1
Artist: Robert Henri
Girl with Muff
By Robert Henri
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Girl with Muff" is aa American figurative portrait oil on canvas painting by Robert Henri in 1912. The artwork is 57 1/4 x 38 1/4 inches and, with the frame, is 64 1/4 x 45 1/4 x 2 ...
Category
Early 20th Century American Realist Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Related Items
Antique American Oil Painting Portrait Young Woman Necklace Period Frame Rare
Located in Buffalo, NY
A beautiful and rare antique American portrait of a young woman in a stunning period frame, likely original to the piece.
Unsigned but beaut...
Category
1890s American Realist Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Mid Century Figurative Portrait of a Boy with Toy Car
By Ralph Edward Joosten
Located in Soquel, CA
Realistic mid century portrait of a boy playing with an antique toy car by Ralph Joosten (American, 1928-2009). Signed "R. Joosten" in the lower left ...
Category
1960s American Realist Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
H 24 in W 20 in D 0.75 in
Portrait of a Lady, Oil on Canvas, 1840's, In Style of Jacob Eichholtz
Located in Doylestown, PA
This interior portrait of a woman dressed in an elegant lace shawl is a 30" x 25" oil on canvas painting in the style of Jacob Eichholtz. The artist is unknown but the painting is believed to have been painted in the 1840's. It is not signed but framed and in good condition. Provenance: Private Collection, Old Queens Gallery...
Category
Mid-19th Century American Realist Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
H 34 in W 28 in D 2 in
"Naughty Children" on Canvas by Harold Stephenson, Aka Abruzzi
By Harold Stephenson
Located in Pasadena, CA
This painting features two children with big brown eyes peeking behind red-slatted shutters. The innocence on their faces contrasts with some sense of embarrassment, like if they had...
Category
1960s American Realist Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
H 32 in W 1.75 in D 38.25 in
Two Happy Sisters - Portrait of two black girls - Royal
Located in Aartselaar, BE
A portrait of two young girls by the Royal Portraitist Chen Yanning.
Both the artist as well as the sitters of this magnificent portrait are from racial...
Category
19th Century American Realist Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Unemployed" WPA American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern
By William Gropper
Located in New York, NY
"Unemployed" WPA American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century Modern
William Gropper (1898 - 1977)
Unemployed
20 x 16 inches
Oil on canvas, 1937
Signed lower right
Provenance: Estate of the artist
Bio
Throughout his life, William Gropper used his artistic talents to protest social injustice. Born in New York City, he grew up there in poverty and left high school to work as a dishwasher and delivery boy. He eventually began a career in art and was able to study with Robert Henri and George Bellows from 1912 to 1915. He adopted their realistic painting style, and his own work expressed sympathy for common laborers and outrage at society's ills.
In 1919 Gropper established a reputation as a political cartoonist working for the New York Tribune. His blunt, forceful style attracted the attention of other publications, and he provided illustrations and cartoons for a variety of magazines, from the left-wing New Masses to mainstream Vanity Fair. Like many social realist artists of the 1930s, Gropper supported liberal political causes, depicting subjects such as the plight of migrant laborers and striking factory workers.
In his first gallery exhibition in 1936 at ACA Galleries, Gropper's work was so well received by critics, collectors, and artists that the following year he had two one-man exhibitions at ACA Galleries. In 1937, Gropper traveled west on a Guggenheim Fellowship and visited the Dust Bowl and the Hoover and Grand Coulee Dams, sketching studies for a series of paintings and a mural he painted for the Department of the Interior. That same year he had paintings purchased by both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art.
Gropper exhibited at the 1939 New York World's Fair, Whitney Museum of American Art (1924-55), Art Institute of Chicago (1935-49), Carnegie International (1937-50), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1939-48), and National Academy of Design (1945-48). He was a founder of the Artists Equity Association and member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
From 1940 to 1945 William Gropper was preoccupied with anti-Nazi cartoons...
Category
1930s American Realist Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"See No Evil" oil painting, self portrait of artist covering her eyes with hands
By Maryann Lucas
Located in Sag Harbor, NY
"See No Evil" is an oil painting. It depicts a woman, the artist, Maryann Lucas covering her eyes with her hands. The two tone composition represents the artist's astrological sign, ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Woman in a Red Dress, Mid Century Female Illustrator/ Artist, Elizabeth Taylor ?
By Gladys Rockmore Davis
Located in Miami, FL
Mid-century female illustrator/artist Gladys Rockmore Davis paints a compelling portrait of a contemplative beauty who looks like Elizabeth Taylor. Frontal and lateral forces work together in this pyramidal composition. The sitter stares down at the viewer creating a frontal tension. Her hypnotic gaze is counterbalanced by the lateral movement of her crossed hands and triggers an emotional response. Gladys Rockmore Davis is both a work-for-hire illustrator and a fine artist- She was an illustrator for clients such as Upjohn, Munsingwear, Elgin Watches, and Johnson & Johnson. Davis had a show at the prestigious Midtown Gallery and Babcock Gallery in New York. She studied at the California School of Fine Arts, Art Institute of Chicago, and Art Students League. William R. French Gold Medal...
Category
1950s American Realist Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Ship Breaking
By Willard Dixon
Located in Burlingame, CA
'Ship Breaking' by Willard Dixon. These paintings are generally taken from small black and white newspaper photos from Willard Dixon’s daily reading of the news. Dixon changes the images somewhat by cropping them, taking things out, adding color, etc. But the image is definitely something seen originally by someone else. “I must say”, says Dixon, “I have rather strong feelings about these images myself. I see them at least in part as an homage to the intrepid photographers on the front lines who are telling truth to the world about what’s actually going on out there.”
Willard Dixon
Born: Kansas City MO, 1942
Education: Art Students League, New York, NY
Cornell University
Brooklyn Museum School
San Francisco Art Institute, M.F.A. 1969
Awards and Commissions
N.E.A. Fellowship Grant- 1989
California Supreme Court Mural Commission- 1998
Las Vegas Federal Courthouse Commission, G.S.A.-1998
Teaching
1989-90: San Francisco State University
1975: San Francisco Art Institute Realism Seminar
1974-76: Academy of Art College, San Francisco, CA
1973-74, 1976: California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
1971-72: California State University, Hayward, CA
One Man Exhibitions
2020: Evening Light, Andra Norris Gallery, Burlingame, CA
2015: Willard Dixon Portraits College of Marin Fine Art Gallery, Kentfield
2014: SFMOMA Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2008: SFMOMA Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2005: Fischbach Gallery, NYC,NY
2005: Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2004: Fischbach Gallery, NYC, NY.
2002: Earl McGrath Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2002: Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA
2001: Hackett Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2000: Fischbach Gallery, NYC , NY
2000: Hearst Art Gallery, St. Mary’s College, Moraga, CA
1998: Hackett Freedman Gallery, SF, CA
1997: Tatistcheff/Rogers Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1996, 1995: Contemporary Realist Gallery (now Hackett Freedman Gallery)
1994: Fischbach Gallery
1993: Contemporary Realist Gallery
1992: Fischbach Gallery
1991: Earl McGrath Gallery, 454 North, Los Angeles, CA
1990: Fischbach Gallery
1989: William Sawyer...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary American Realist Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
'Prophet', Chouinard Art Institute, Biblical, Old Testament, Early Christian
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower left 'H. R. Williams' for Homer Ross Williams (American, 1901-1954), and painted circa 1925.
Displayed in a substantial, incised and water-gilded frame of the period. Framed Size: 25 x 20 x 2 inches.
A psychologically penetrating, early twentieth century, figural oil painting of a bearded young man...
Category
1920s American Realist Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
H 18 in W 13 in D 0.3 in
Blond and Blue Eyed Ballerina in Tutu against Chinese Screen
Located in Miami, FL
Prolific Saturday Evening Post Cover Illustrator Pearl L. Hill Worthington paints a stunning portrait of a Ballerina in a tutu with underlighting. She sits on a decorative Chinese ...
Category
1920s American Realist Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
H 32 in W 41 in D 2 in
"Reclining Figure" Oil Painting
By Christopher Clark
Located in Denver, CO
Christopher Clark's (US based) "Reclining Figure" is an oil painting that depicts a woman in white reclining in a deep blue interior
Bio/artist statem...
Category
2010s American Realist Robert Henri Figurative Paintings
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Robert Henri figurative paintings for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Robert Henri figurative paintings available for sale on 1stDibs.