Quotes by Robert Henri

About Robert Henri:

Robert Henri was an American painter and teacher. He was a leading figure of the Ashcan School of American realism and an organizer of the group known as "The Eight," a loose association of artists who protested the restrictive exhibition practices of the powerful, conservative National Academy of Design.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

It will stick with you and show up for better or worse in spite of all you or anyone else can do.

Robert Henri

Know what the old masters did. Know how they composed their pictures, but do not fall into the conventions they established. These conventions were right for them, and they are wonderful. They made their language. You make yours. All the past can hel...

Robert Henri

A tree growing out of the ground is as wonderful today as it ever was. It does not need to adopt new and startling methods.

Robert Henri

Genius is not a possession of the limited few, but exists in some degree in everyone. Where there is natural growth, a full and free play of faculties, genius will manifest itself.

Robert Henri

Art is, after all, only a trace – like a footprint which shows that one has walked bravely and in great happiness.

Robert Henri

There is no art without contemplation.

Robert Henri

Color is only beautiful when it means something.

Robert Henri

A common defect of modern art study is that too many students do not know why they draw.

Robert Henri

A Curve does not exist in its full power until contrasted with a straight line.

Robert Henri

Art is the giving by each man of his evidence to the world. Those who wish to give, love to give, discover the pleasure of giving. Those who give are tremendously strong.

Robert Henri

Pretend you are dancing or singing a picture. A worker or painter should enjoy his work, else the observer will not enjoy it.

Robert Henri

All real works of art look as though they were done in joy.

Robert Henri

Because we are saturated with life, because we are human, our strongest motive is life, humanity; and the stronger the motive back of the line the stronger, and therefore more beautiful, the line will be.

Robert Henri

Good composition is like a suspension bridge; each line adds strength and takes none away... Making lines run into each other is not composition. There must be motive for the connection. Get the art of controlling the observer – that is composition...

Robert Henri

Get the few main lines and see what lines they call out.

Robert Henri

The sketch hunter moves through life as he finds it, not passing negligently the things he loves, but stopping to know them, and to note them down in the shorthand of his sketchbook.

Robert Henri

If a certain activity, such as painting, becomes the habitual mode of expression, it may follow that taking up the painting materials and beginning work with them will act suggestively and so presently evoke a flight into the higher state.

Robert Henri

Art tends toward balance, order, judgment of relative values, the laws of growth, the economy of living – very good things for anyone to be interested in.

Robert Henri

The most vital things in the look of a landscape endure only for a moment. Work should be done from memory; memory of that vital moment.

Robert Henri

Lines are results, do not draw them for themselves. ... Lines give birth to lines. Drawing is not following a line on the model, it is drawing your sense of the thing. ... Make a drawing flow, stopping sometimes, and going on. ... Search for the simp...

Robert Henri

Author Bio

  • NameRobert Henri
  • DescriptionAmerican painter
  • BornJune 24, 1865
  • DiedJuly 12, 1929
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionPainter
  • WorksThe Irish Girl; The Laughing Boy (Jopie Van Slouten)