Robert Henri: Oil Paintings

By Gary Lee Kvamme

The author is founder and director of Archetypes International (AI), an educational, political, and research organization dedicated to actively promoting the ever-increasing development and understanding of the human mind through the arts and sciences worldwide. He is also a painter and sculptor.

Robert Henri is to be remembered distinctly as a painter of portraits. Under his brush the likeness becomes a living reality. One carries away from an examination of his work the impression of "unpreparedness" on the sitter's part. The sincerity seen in his portraits is the result of a remarkable ability shown in painting the eyes. While, for the most part, he paints in a bold style, which by dashing strokes realizes a finish adapted to being viewed from a considerable distance, on the other hand his intelligence leads him to adapt his form of artistic expression to suit his sitter. He has no cut and dried style which is employed for all alike. Robert Henri represents, in his absolute sureness and brilliancy of technique, his restlessness and constant experimentation, his freshness and modernity, the present-day American.