Robert Henri

"Robert Henri (1865-1929) was born in Cozad, Nebraska. After his father, John Cozad, killed a drunken cattleman in a fight, the family was forced to leave Nebraska and adopt new names. After three years in Europe, Henri returned to Philadelphia in 1891. There, as a teacher, he began to influence a number of younger artists including John Sloan. After 1900 Henri settled in New York City, where he and his friends organized as The Eight, also known as the Ashcan School. Although these artists exhibited as a group only once, their quest for artistic independence paved the way for artists seeking to work outside the constraint of the National Academy of Design. Henri was an immensely significant force behind the change from 19-century academicism to 20-century self-expression.
He encouraged his legions to replace the slick, formula-like style of painting then in vogue with visions of their own. As a leader of the 'Ashcan School,' he proclaimed that all life was fit subject matter for the artist. At a time when American painting dealt largely with classical motifs and nondescript landscapes, Henri sent his pupils into the streets of the city--New York's Lower East Side with its immigrant population, its peddlers and its poverty--where life in the raw could be studied and recorded.

Henri spearheaded the movement to have artists organize their own exhibits when their outlaw canvases were rejected by the staid Academy. It was he who brought about the exhibition of 'The Eight' in 1908 and the 1910 Independent, both landmark exhibitions. The Armory Show of 1913, the first large-scale display of modern European art ever held in the United States was an effort on the part of one of its chief organizers to upstage Henri and his accomplishments.
Henri's prowess as a teacher and artist is legend. He influenced several generations of artists; his influence continues today. Among his students were Edward Hopper, George.Bellows, Stuart Davis, Rockwell Kent, Patrick Henry Bruce, Man Ray, Guy Pene du Bois, Morgan Russell, Adolph Dehn, Peppino Mangravite, William Gropper, Adolph Gottlieb, Randall Davey, Moses Soyer, Glenn Coleman, Eugene Speicher and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. It was Henri who urged Vachel Lindsay to abandon painting for poetry, and he also taught Clifton Webb, Ariel Durant and Leon Trotsky.
He has had numerous exhibitions all over the U.S. Over 100 museums hold his paintings in their permanent collections including the National Portrait Gallery (Washington, DC), the Spartanburg County Museum of Art (SC), the Norton Museum of Art (FL), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), the High Museum of Art (GA), and the Crocker Art Museum (CA)." [Source: Unknown and currently being researched.]