The Model Nude Robert Henri

Robert Henri was born Robert Henry Cozad in Cincinnati, in 1865. He was the son of a professional gambler. In 1881 he accompanied his family to Denver and when his father was indicted for manslaughter a year later the Cozads changed their family name and fled to Atlantic City, New Jersey. In 1886 Henri enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he studied under Thomas Anshutz, Thomas Hovenden, and James Kelly. In 1888 he went to the city of Paris and enrolled at the Academie Julian under Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury. During the summers he painted in Brittany and Barbizon, and visited Italy prior to being admitted to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1891. He returned to Philadelphia late that year, and in 1892 resumed studying at the academy. He also began his long and influential career as an art teacher at the School of Design for Women, where he taught until 1895. During this period he met the young newspaper illustrators who would later achieve fame as members of The Eight: John Sloan, William Glackens, George Luks, and Everett Shinn. He made regular trips to Paris where he was particularly influenced by Edouard Manet, Frans Hals, and Diego Velazquez.