Focus On: Robert Henri & Edith Haworth

This art of the week from the IU Art Museum is a portrait done by an American painter, Robert Henri (1865-1929). I didn't know anything about him until some digging on the internets this morning, and he is a pretty interesting guy! Not related to his art, I suppose, but when he was a child, his father founded two towns, and then got into a dispute with a rancher and killed him and the family had to change their names and go into hiding.

More pertinently, Henri was trained in France, but eschewed Academy education and Impressionism as being too limiting and "academic". An ardent realist, he is now associated with the Ashcan School. He was a long time teacher at the New York School of Art and the Art Students League of New York, where his pupils included George Bellows, Rockwell Kent, Edward Hopper, and Lillian Cotton. What I like about him is that he was a bit of an anarchist and after he was elected to the National Academy of Design in 1906, he often tried to undermine them, and would set up his own, independent exhibitions that were much more egalitarian.

Anyway, all of that is just a precursor to this loveliness:
(Robert Henri, Portrait of Edith Haworth, 1909. Thanks to IU's online database for the image!)

I really, really like this portrait. When you see it in person, it is so LIVELY, which you can tell from this image, too. There is a wonderful quality of movement throughout, stemming from those quick and energetic brushstrokes, especially evident along the sleeve. Somewhere I read that Henri was influenced by Velazquez while studying in Europe, which I could see. Edith Haworth was a former student of Henri's who was moving to France. He painted this portrait of her when she stopped by his studio to say goodbye. I wasn't able to find out much about her, although she is mentioned in quite a few anthologies of American Art.

The best part of this work is Edith Haworth's face. It's got such a personality, which might be her as much as Henri! Her mouth is set in this great half-smile, like he was saying something witty or silly, something that your friend might say if they were painting you to try and make you laugh. She looks indulgently and wistfully towards (presumably) the artist, perhaps sad to be leaving, perhaps excited to start this next phase of her life. She's an enigma. I bet she was fun. I wish I knew her.