Robert Henri

Robert Henri was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1865. He studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy and at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. After returning to Philadelphia in 1891 he taught at the Women's School of Design.

A strong admirer of the work of Thomas Eakins, Henri was an advocate of realism in art. Eventually Henri became the leader of a movement that Art Young described as the Ash Can School. Henri taught his students that the artist's work should be "a social force that creates a stir in the world". Henri also urged artists to use the "rich subject-matter provided by modern urban life". Artists influenced by Henri's ideas included John Sloan, George Bellows, George Luks, Denys Wortman, Rockwell Kent and Edward Hopper.

In 1898 Henri began teaching at the New York School of Art. When the National Academy in 1907 failed to recognize the importance of Henri and his followers he mounted his own exhibition under the title, The Eight.

The work of the Ash Can School became more widely known after 1911 when John Sloan became art editor of the radical journal, The Masses. Although they were rarely paid, Sloan was able to use the work of Henri as well as the artists he had influenced such as Stuart Davis, George Bellows, Rockwell Kent, Boardman Robinson, Robert Minor, K. R. Chamberlain, and Maurice Becker.

In 1913 the ideas of Henri inspired the International Exhibition of Modern Art (the Armory Show) held in New York. Held at the 69th Regiment Armory, the exhibition included over 1,300 works, including 430 from Europe. The exhibition, held between 17th February and 15th March, received around 250,000 visitors.

After leaving the New York School of Art Henri taught at the Ferrer Center (1911-18) and the Arts Students League (1915-28). Henri's book, The Art Spirit, published in 1923, had a tremendous influence on young artists throughout America and Europe. Robert Henri died in 1929.