ROBERT HENRI, American (1864-1929)

Known in his time as a successful painter and an influential teacher to artists like Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Hopper and John Sloan, Robert Henri received the most critical recognition for his full-length portraits painted from models.  The artist sought to combine the poised assurance of seventeenth-century Dutch and Spanish portraiture with modern speed and visible process, which aimed to express the essence of his sitters.

Here, as though having just shifted balance, Mrs. Haseltine faces forward with a blank, confrontational gaze.  With most of the pictorial space left dark, the eye focuses in on the individual’s face, hands, and the bright dots of color on her garments.  Henri’s supporters praised his “suave sobriety.”

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