Between impressionism and realism: Robert Henri's early career, navigation of nineteenth-century French modernism, and the development of an American avant-garde

Abstract

Robert Henri is regarded as the quintessential American Realist and the outspoken representative of the Ashcan artists. Inspired by his philosophy of artistic practice, Henri's followers embraced their individuality and represented their engagement with the realities of modern life. For his own part, however, Henri never truly adopted the reformist style embraced by the Ashcan Realists. Instead, his art remained torn between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In other words, there is a fundamental division between the philosophy that aligned Henri with his pupils and the style and substance of his own artistic practice. By looking back to Henri's formative years—when he dabbled in impressionism, symbolism, and aestheticism—we can gain a fuller understanding of the dichotomous, sometimes contradictory nature of his more conservative artistic practice and his progressive philosophy of art. Reexamination also connects Henri to the influential artists of the nineteenth century, such as James McNeill Whistler, who contributed to his complex artistic philosophy, style, and technique. Throughout this project follows Henri's navigation of a range of anti-academic, late-nineteenth century art traditions in combination with more academic practice to reconsider Henri's lasting interest in nineteenth century modernisms. Most relevant to our modern moment, this project takes a second look at his portraits of Chinese Americans, which are conventionally read through the lens of "realism." Not "honest" representations, these portraits are tempered by Henri's imagination, popular culture, and the Japonisme of Whistler, the Impressionists, and the Symbolists. Finally, critical reconsideration of Henri's publication "The Art Spirit" reveals the lasting legacy of nineteenth-century thought in Henri's philosophy of art even as it inspires more forward-thinking practice.