Robert Henri 1865 - 1929

Macbeth Gallery, New York
Sale: Christie's, New York, December 1, 1989, lot 242A, illustrated in color
Berry-Hill Galleries, New York (acquired at the above sale)
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 1989

By 1925 Robert Henri had long been recognized by his contemporaries as one of the most influential forces in American art in the generation leading up to the catalytic Armory Show of 1913.  He had not only founded The Four in Philadelphia and The Eight in New York, but organized several exhibitions of progressive art and was an unselfish resource for artists such as George Bellows, Stuart Davis, and Rockwell Kent who were guided by his insights and teachings.  The Armory Show experience proved to be a disappointment for Henri; he found himself on the periphery of the action and was frustrated by the preponderance of European artists represented.  At this pivotal moment in his career Henri decided to spend the summer in Ireland where he and his wife rented "Corrymore", a house situated on an island at the extreme western tip of the country. Captivated by the children of the small rural community, who seemed to fill a void for the childless artist and his wife, Henri purchased the home in 1924. The village children were eager to sit for the artist and would enthusiastically trudge up the hill from their thatched cottages to Henri's spacious and welcoming home. Henri forged warm relationships with his models as his wife played music on the Victor Talking Machine or Victrola and promised tea and sandwiches when his sitters were finished posing.

Henri revered children, writing, "I have never respected any man more than I have some children. In the faces of children I have seen a look of wisdom and kindness expressed with such ease and such certainty that I knew it was the expression of a whole race" (The Art Spirit, published posthumously in 1939, p. 242). In portraits such as Mary Anne (Mollie), Henri delicately balances the sitter's youthful innocence with a keen awareness. Mary Anne's wide opened gaze confronts the viewer without guile, a look that evinces something of the authentic, unspoiled life, removed from the corrupting forces of the modern urban environment. Henri's children reveal a kindness and purity he believed was "an antidote to the evils of over sophistication that stifled man when he reached adulthood" (William Inness Homer, Robert Henri and his Circle, New York, 1988, p. 249).