Mexican Girl with Oriental Scarf
Artist TitleBrown Girl. Mexican. Oriental Scarf
Alternate TitleMexican Girl
Artist
Robert Henri
(American, 1865 - 1929)
Dateca. 1916-1922
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 23 15/16 x 20 inches (60.8 x 50.8 cm)
Framed: 30 1/4 x 26 1/2 x 1 3/8 inches (76.84 x 67.31 x 3.49 cm)
Framed: 30 1/4 x 26 1/2 x 1 3/8 inches (76.84 x 67.31 x 3.49 cm)
Credit LineGift of Rilye (Toi) and George Ashby
Object number2010.39
SignedSigned in blue oil paint or thin blue stain, lower right: "ROBERT HENRI"
InscribedInscribed, verso, upper stretcher member and again on lower stretch member: RH 1921-O
On View
On viewGallery Location
- 218
Collections
DescriptionThis striking half-length portrait by Robert Henri features a young woman who is posed against a dark background that subtly shifts from a deep green/teal at the left, to midnight blue in the center, and brownish/red at the right. The sitter gazes solemnly and directly out at the viewer. She has large, wide-set, almond-shaped brown eyes; cheeks tinged with pink; and full, red lips. Her features are set off by the scarf, shawl, or blanket that completely envelopes her and allows only her face, a plait of dark hair arching cross her forehead, and a small portion of her neck to be visible. The part of the shawl that drapes over the sitter's head and wraps around her proper right shoulder and side is white and decorated with a vaguely floral border in red, green, and mustard tones with dashes of pale yellow. As the shawl winds around the sitter, its color and pattern changes to green accented with dots of red and touches of yellow.Exhibition History
Robert Henri (1865-1929):
Selected Paintings, Berry-Hill
Galleries, New York, June 11–July 18, 1986, no. 27.
Robert Henri painted sitters from many races, portraying them with his signature keen analysis of character and masterful brushwork. A 1914 trip inaugurated his long-standing fascination with the Southwest and the region’s ethnically diverse people. This interest was further fostered by multiple visits to northern New Mexico where he found subjects who reflected a blend of cultures, notably Mexican and local Native and Hispanic Americans. Henri acknowledged: “I am looking at each individual with the eager hope of finding something of the dignity of life…the humanity…. I do not wish to explain these people…. I only want to find whatever of the great spirit there is in the Southwest. If I can hold it on my canvas, I am satisfied.”
Likely (Berry-Hill Galleries, New York, ca. 1986);
(Owings-Dewey Fine Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico);
to George and Rilye (Toi) Ashby, Kansas City, MO, 1989;
to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2010.
Helen Farr Sloan and Bruce W. Chambers, Robert Henri (1865-1929): Selected Paintings, exh. cat. (New York:
Berry-Hill Galleries, Inc., 1986), 16 (repro., plate VII), 36.
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