Herself

Robert HenriWW-1913-139520

1913·Oil on canvas·81.3 × 66 cm (32 × 26 in.)

Robert Henri painted <a href="https://www.artic.edu/artworks/13745/himself">Himself</a> (1924.912) and Herself (Irish terms of endearment for a husband and wife) during a summer trip to Ireland; the canvases depict the fisherman Johnnie Cummings and his wife, Biddy. The rich hues and thick, lush paint add depth to the works, while the figures’ elusive expressions and informal poses give them a brusque, forthright quality. Each portrait reveals a distinctive character and, according to Henri, was meant to be a dynamic example of “humanity in the making, in the living.”

Catalogue

Year: 1913
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 81.3 × 66 cm (32 × 26 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Robert Henri

Artist

Robert Henri

Painting

Robert Henri was an American painter and influential teacher who championed direct observation and expressive brushwork as the foundation of modern art. Working primarily in oil portraiture and urban scenes, he rejected academic convention in favor of immediacy and psychological intensity. Henri led the Ashcan School movement, a group of early 20th-century realists devoted to depicting everyday American life without sentimentality. His teaching at the Chase School of Art and the Art Students League shaped generations of American painters through his insistence on authentic subject matter and vigorous technique.

Cincinnati, OH, USA

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