This picture bears the name "Snow in New York." Did you really doubt that was the setting? It was painted in 1902, and already the buildings are vertiginous.
The painter is Robert Henri, an artist originally from Cincinnati. And yes, he was of French descent, but he pronounced it "hen-rye." He was associated with the Ashcan School, who focused on urban realism. That doesn't describe everything he did―he painted portraits, although they looked more spontaneous than other portraits―but seems to have been a good foundation for him.
On balance I don't know that he was fond of winter.
2 comments:
I've admired several of the portraits he painted, Salome being the most striking of them, but most are memorable. The story of how he came to be named Robert Henri was entertaining to say the least. Shooting someone in the late 1800s would be a sure way of having one's name remembered. It's something of a shame that duels went out of fashion - 'pistols for two, breakfast for one'.
Until you mentioned it here I hadn't known much of anything about the Ashcan school of art. What is very noticeable not just with Henri but with George Luks, John Sloan, and George Bellows is just how brilliantly successful they were in their interpretations of Edouard Manet's magnificent images of Paris at the turn of the century. As a teacher and colleague he brought new life to American art.
I love the Snow in New York painting, apparently he was readjusting to life in America again after his years in Paris. He probably didn't like winter and I for one don't blame him.
Salome is a great piece of work. The model did well in adopting the right air of arrogance, and Henri really captured it on canvas. I know I've blogged about Franz Hals before and Henri's portraits seem to show that he learned some things from Hals. Yeah, that's a colorful story about the kids having to pose as adopted children. If I'm not mistaken duels are still legal in some places, like Southern US states. The system probably works better in rural areas. Less likely to become a free-for-all.
They were an inspired group of artists. Bellows I guess is best remembered for his boxing pictures like "Both Members of This Club", but he was rather versatile. It makes sense that Edouard Manet would be a big influence at the time. He led the way during the nineteenth century in creating pictures of people that looked captured instead of posed. It's interesting that Manet and Monet, despite their similar names, veered off in such contrasting directions.
A character in The Picture of Dorian Gray says that good Americans go to Paris when they die and bad ones go to America. I appreciate winter, but it's a mixed bag.
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