HENRI, ROBERT

born June 25, 1865, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. died July 12, 1929, New York City urban realist painter, a leader of the Ashcan School and one of the most influential teachers of art in the United States. Henri studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, and at the cole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. On returning to the United States in 1891 he became an instructor at the Women's School of Design in Philadelphia. His vigorous ideas attracted a group of young illustrators for the Philadelphia press: John Sloan, Everett Shinn, George Luks, and William J. Glackens. With these artists, he later formed the group that came to be known as The Eight (see Eight, The). From 1898 to 1900 he was again in Paris and exhibited at the Salon. He then settled in New York City, where in 1908 The Eight mounted their single joint exhibition before being absorbed into the larger Ashcan School. Henri also exhibited at the 1913 Armory Show. During an extremely active life as an artist, Henri exercised considerable influence as a portrait painter. From 1915 to 1928 he taught at the Art Students League, New York City. Henri's book, The Art Spirit (1923), embodying his conception of art as an expression of love for life, maintained a continuing popularity among artists and art students. A painting such as "Himself " (1913) reveals his facile brushwork, lively colours, and his ability to catch fleeting gestures and expressions. But he affected American art more through his teaching than through his painting. He was instrumental in turning the young American painters of his time away from academic eclecticism toward an acceptance of the rich, real life of the modern city as the proper subject of art.