The Masquerade Dress

Robert Henri was one of the most influential artists and teachers in twentieth-century American art. Among his students and disciples were many artists who came to maturity between 1910 and 1930, including George Bellows, Rockwell Kent, Eugene Speicher, Patrick Henry Bruce, Glenn Coleman, Morgan Russell, Stuart Davis, and John Sloan.Henris approach to realism was influenced by his studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts with Thomas Anshutz, a pupil and an assistant of Thomas Eakins who took over the latters classes after he was dismissed. Their disavowal of traditional subject matter derived from history, literature, and mythology and their tendency to analyze nature objectively shaped Henris own philosophy. After three years of study in Europe, where he was impressed more by the work of Manet, Velázquez, and Hals than by late Impressionism, Henri returned to Philadelphia, where he met Sloan, William Glackens, George Luks, and Everett Shinn, all of whom were working as artist-reporters or illustrators at various Philadelphia newspapers. Their interaction — a merging of Henris painterly technique with the keen observation and social focus of newspaper illustration — resulted in the artistic philosophy of this group.