Robert Henri

Spanierman Gallery, New York
Hirschl & Adler Gallery, Inc., New York

New York, Spanierman Gallery, The Eight and Their Circle, 1992

Oil on canvas. Canvas is wax lined (the work is stenciled on the reverse, over the lining, with the artist's signature, 'Robert Henri' and numbered '148L' from the artist's inventory book--copying the original signature, presumably underneath). SURFACE: in good condition aside from faint surface dust. UNDER UV: A small area of inpainting in the upper right quadrant in the background and inpainting along the edges to address frame abrasion. There is an even varnish which fluoresces green. Work presents well and the colors, particularly the pinks, are fresh.
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In June of 1921, Henri went to Woodstock, New York to join his close friends, George Bellows, Eugene Speicher and Leon Kroll for the summer. Once settled, it took him a few weeks to find the models he needed.  The young siblings of the Schleicher family proved to be his favorites, particularly baby Karl.  He wrote to a friend, “Here I am painting principally children.  There is a good crop of them available and some are excellent.  The one I had today is a wonder—a little gnome of two and a half—and I think I landed a good one.” (Valerie Ann Leeds, Robert Henri, The Painted Spirit, New York, 2005, p. 27).  Over the course of the season, he painted nine versions of little Karl, whose name he consistently spelled ‘Carl’. 

It is interesting to note that Karl Schleicher grew-up to become a prominent physicist and mathematician, working for various prestigious firms and finally as oceanographic engineer in the Physical Oceanography Department of the famed Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

We are grateful to Valerie Ann Leeds for her help in the cataloguing of this lot.