Date of Award
Fall 1-2-2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Art & Art History
First Advisor
Harper Montgomery
Second Advisor
Lynda Klich
Academic Program Adviser
Lynda Klich
Abstract
Robert Henri (1865-1929) is perhaps best known as the prominent leader of the turn-of-the century American movement The Eight, commonly known as “the Ashcan School,” and as a leading teacher in the United States during the early twentieth century. However, his artistic output as a portrait painter, particularly of children, is also significant. Beginning in 1904 and throughout his career as an artist, Henri painted hundreds of images of children in the various foreign or remote locales to which he traveled, often depicting the same subject in multiple instances. These portraits range from the roughly painted, rosy-cheeked Dutch youth of 1907 and 1910 to the vividly colored and candid studies of Irish children in 1913 and from 1924 to 1928. Although scholars have discussed this body of work, no in-depth study on these images has heretofore been undertaken.
Henri’s motive behind this body of work is ambiguous and has been the subject of scholarly debate. Through an in-depth, multifaceted study of this wide-ranging body of work, this thesis addresses the questions of what drew him to the subject of child portraiture and how he approached it. This thesis also explores his philosophy on childhood, a changing sociological construct throughout history. Ultimately, this thesis examines Henri’s motivations for prolifically painting children as well as how he approached this body of painting and how his approach was shaped by his iconic concept and ideological view of childhood. It also considers his paintings of children as manifestations of a theoretical ideal that occurred in the context of shifting societal expectations of the Progressive Era, which was the time period in which he painted them.
Recommended Citation
Maccaro, Alex C., "Capturing the Spirit of Childhood: An Analysis of Robert Henri’s Portraits of Children" (2026). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/hc_sas_etds/1448
