Dutch Girl in White

Robert Henri

1907 · Oil on canvas · The American Wing

The de facto leader of the Ashcan group, Robert Henri studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Hovenden and Thomas Anshutz before seeking further training in Europe. Returning to Philadelphia in 1891, he embarked on an influential teaching career. While his crusading "art spirit" championed freedom and experimentation in his students, Henri’s own work, particularly his portraiture, was marked by a more academic formalism. This spirited depiction of a young Dutch girl reveals the influence of one of Henri’s artistic heroes, the seventeenth-century Old Master Frans Hals.

Artist

Robert Henri

Date

1907

Medium

Oil on canvas

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Arthur Hoppock Hearn Fund, 1950