This post is the fifth in a series I’m calling “Gems in the Museums”, about little known paintings in museums.
I’ve always loved this painting. It’s part of my childhood memories because my mother used to take my brothers and me to the Phoenix Art Museum, where it was displayed. My next younger brother says the painting that he remembers from those trips is El Suicido de Dorothy Hale, by Frida Kahlo. It’s a dark and disturbing painting but somehow it never caught my eye. I was too busy looking at other paintings, including Flowers by Joseph Stella (which I wrote about in a previous post – here) and this painting by Henri.
Henri painted this working woman with as much dignity and grace as any princess or dowager in more famous paintings. The colors he used are both lush and soothing.
Robert Henri was the leading figure of the Ashcan School, a movement in art that included John French Sloan, Everett Shin, William Glackens and George Bellows. They were a loosely related group of realists working at the beginning of the twentieth century; their paintings focused on scenes of urban life.
These days Henri is also known among artists as the author of the book The Art Spirit. I have to admit that even though I own a copy I haven’t been able to get into this book - it’s a little too rambling for me.
If you’re in Phoenix and have the chance, go look at this beautiful painting. I hope it’s still on display. You could also see it online - like many museums, the Phoenix Art Museum has an “online gallery” where you can browse the works in their collections. But as I’ve said before in this blog (click here), it’s much better to go in person and see the real thing.
