Description
Description: American artist and teacher Robert Henri (1865-1929) wrote this autograph letter signed to Mr. Fred Hovey Allen (1845-1926), an American author, clergyman, inventor of the first photogravure plates for art reproduction made in the United States, and one-time director of the Art Salon at the Hotel Majestic in New York City. The letter reads in part: “The picture you asked for ‘Peg Rafferty in Scheherazade’ is booked for an out of town exhibition which will close Feb 28 1918. I am sorry I can not let you have it, therefore, for the Majestic Art Salon–but if after that date Feb 28 you still wish to have it let me know. I am at present very scant of pictures having so many out or booked to go out on exhibition so it would be hardly worth your time to come to see now.”
A February 2, 1918 edition of American Art News mentions that Henri’s painting of Peg Rafferty was on display at the Charcoal Club’s ninth annual exhibition in Baltimore. The paper states: “Henri’s Oriental arrangement is attracting much attention, and comments are generally favorable, its brilliant color, splendid workmanship and quasi-sensational subject apparently exerting an eloquent appeal. ‘Peg’ assumes her pseudo-Orientalism with easy grace, and the fact that she suggests a bal masque rather than a bona fide seraglio favorite need not be held against her by purists.” The painting depicts Rafferty, a dancer, reclining on her side and propped up with one arm. She is dressed in a sleeveless patterned frock and bedecked with jewelry at her ears, neck, wrists, and ankles, and wears a feather turban on her head which is turned in profile to the viewer.
Robert Henri travelled to Paris to study art under academic realist painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau. He came to greatly admire the work of the Impressionist painters and upon returning to America, alongside a small group of enthusiastic followers, he pioneered the Ashcan School of American Realism, depicting urban life in an uncompromisingly brutalist style. He wanted to create more realistic art that would speak directly to his own time and experience. Henri was also a popular and influential teacher throughout his life. During the time this letter was written, Henri was in the midst of his twelve-year tenure as a teacher at the Art Students League of New York (1915-1927). In the spring of 1929, Henri was named as one of the top three living American artists by the Arts Council of New York. After his death later that year, he was eulogized by colleagues and former students and was honored with a memorial exhibition of seventy-eight paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Forbes Watson, editor of The Arts magazine wrote, “Henri, quite aside from his extraordinary personal charm, was an epoch-making man in the development of American art.”
Written on a 9 3/4″ x 8″ sheet of plain stationery. Item #A01844
Condition: Some paper loss to edges of letter, mailing fold lines with several short edge separations reinforced with archival tissue/tape, generally good condition with a large, bold signature.
