Indian Girl in White Blanket

1917

Robert Henri

Painter, American, 1865 - 1929

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One of the group of urban realist painters known as the Eight and a highly influential teacher, Robert Henri devoted himself to portraiture beginning in 1902. Rather than work on commission, he chose to depict people of many ages and nationalities, seeking subjects in the United States and abroad. The artist painted Indian Girl in a White Blanket in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is one of 10 likenesses he completed of Julianita, a young woman from San Ildefonso pueblo studying at an Indian school located near the artist’s studio in the Palace of the Governors.

Applying a bold, modern painting style to an indigenous American theme, Indian Girl in a White Blanket presents both a sympathetic likeness and a dramatic arrangement of form and color. The softly curving folds of lushly painted white drapery that envelop the dignified Julianita create a sense of depth, while a geometrically patterned blanket inspired by Native American designs provides a vibrant backdrop. The artist often supplied these accessories himself, because he was interested not in depicting Native American life or material culture from an anthropological perspective, but rather from an aesthetic and expressive one. As he stated: “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.”

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Artwork overview

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  American Paintings, 1900–1945: Indian Girl in White Blanket, 1917

This nearly square painting shows an industrial area with buildings, storage silos, a smokestack, and railroad tracks. A mound of brown dirt or other material is in shadow in the lower left corner of the painting. Next to the mound, railroad tracks extend diagonally from the lower center of the painting into the distance to our right. The tracks end at a white building with staggered gray rooflines to our right in the distance. A tall terracotta-red smokestack rises high beyond the white building, smoke pouring out of its top and blending into the clouds above. Just beyond the mound of dirt, piles of white material, perhaps in unseen bins, line the railroad track to our left and lead back to a row ten interconnected, coral-orange silos. The horizon comes about halfway up the painting, and it is lined with a row of long white and gray warehouses. The artist signed and dated the work with brown paint in the lower right corner: “Sheeler 31.”

Scholarly Series:  American Paintings, 1900–1945

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(William MacBeth, Inc., New York); purchased 1923 by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington;[1] acquired 2014 by the National Gallery of Art.
[1] The purchase involved both cash and an exchange with MacBeth; in part payment for Indian Girl in White Blanket, the Corcoran deaccessioned and returned to the dealer the Henri painting Willie Gee, which had been purchased in 1919, and was Corcoran accession number 19.35. (The exchanged painting is now in the collection of the Newark Museum in New Jersey, accession number 25.111.)

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1917

  • Dedication Exhibit of Southwestern Art, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, November - December 1917, no. 141.

1918

  • Exhibition of Paintings by Robert Henri, Milch Galleries, New York, 25 February - 16 March 1918, no. 15.

1919

  • Daniel Gallery, New York, 1919.

1923

  • Fourteenth Annual Exhibition of American Art, Peabody Institute, Baltimore, 29 January - 25 February 1923.

  • Ohio State Fair, Columbus, September 1923.

  • Macbeth Gallery, New York, 1923.

  • Ninth Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 16 December 1923 - 20 January 1924, no. 281.

1938

  • XXI Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d'Arte, Venice, 1 June - 30 September 1938, United States Section, no. 29.

1959

  • American National Exhibtion, Moscow, 1959, not in catalogue.

1961

  • Directions in Twentieth Century American Painting, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1961, no. 14.

1962

  • Modern American Painting, Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, 1962-1963, no. 21.

1969

  • Robert Henri: Painter-Teacher-Prophet, New York Cultural Center, 1969, no. 76.

1971

  • French Impressionists Influence American Artists, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, 1971, no. 66.

1980

  • Symbols and Scenes: Art By and About American Indians, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980.

1985

  • Henri's Circle, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 20 April-16 June 1985, unnumbered checklist.

1998

  • The Forty-Fifth Biennial: The Corcoran Collects, 1907–1998, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 17 July - 29 September 1998, unnumbered catalogue.

2004

  • Figuratively Speaking: The Human Form in American Art, 1770-1950, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2004, unpublished checklist.

2005

  • Encouraging American Genius: Master Paintings from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Parrish Art Museum, Southampton; Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 2005-2007, checklist no. 76.

2008

  • The American Evolution: A History Through Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2008, unpubilshed checklist.

2009

  • American Paintings from the Collection, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 6 June-18 October 2009, unpublished checklist.

2013

  • American Journeys: Visions of Place, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 21 September 2013-28 September 2014, unpublished checklist.

Bibliography

1918

  • McBride, Henry. "Exhibitions at New York Galleries." Fine Arts Journal 36, no. 3 (March 1918): 62-63, repro.

1923

  • "Charcoal Club Exhibition is of Rare Beauty: Annual Showing of American Art Brings Together Many Fine Paintings and Sculpture." Baltimore Sun (February 4, 1923): part 2, sec. 1, 4.

  • Grafly, Dorothy. "Charcoal Club's Annual Show of American Art in Baltimore [exh. review]." Christian Science Monitor (26 February 1923): 10.

  • Wright, Helen. "Ninth Biennial is a Brilliant Exhibit [exh. review]." Art News 22, no. 11 (22 December 1923): 4.

  • Dorr, Charles Henry. "Brooklyn Artists to the Fore in Corcoran Gallery Show [exh. review]." The Brooklyn Times (23 December 1923): 7.

  • "A Few Pictures from the Ninth Exhibition of Contemporary American Oil Paintings, Corcoran Gallery of Art." The Washington Post (23 December 1923): 73, repro.

1924

  • Brigham, Gertrude Richardson. "Art and Artists of the Capital: Corcoran Gallery Reopens." The Washington Post (3 February 1924): sec. ES, 9.

  • Flambeau, Viktor. "Public Votes This Week on Prize Picture: Corcoran Biennial Exhibition Visitors Will Select Their Favorite." The Washington Herald (6 January 1924): March of Events sec., 5.

1930

  • Henderson, Rose. "Robert Henri." American Magazine of Art 21, no. 1 (January 1930): 8, repro.

1938

  • "Indian Girl in White Ceremonial Blanket." Christian Science Monitor (22 September 1938): 12, repro.

1939

  • Lewis, Elisabeth Ray. "Museum Treasures of the Week: The Corcoran Gallery Collection in Review." The Washington Post (3 September 1939): A5.

1959

  • "Art for Moscow Includes Selection by President." The Washington Post (22 July 1959): B3, repro.

1970

  • Melnick, Denise Catherine. "Art at the Mexican Front: Robert Henri, George Wesley Bellows and Leon Kroll in New Mexico 1916-1922." M.A. thesis, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, 1970: 55-57, 88, repro.

1973

  • Phillips, Dorothy W. A Catalogue of the Collection of American Paintings in the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Vol. 2: Painters born from 1850 to 1910. Washington, 1973: 66, repro.

1980

  • Richard, Paul. "Wooden Indians [exh. review]." The Washington Post (6 March 1980): D8, repro.

1984

  • Broder, Patricia Janis. The American West: The Modern Vision. Boston, 1984: 31, repro.

1991

  • Perlman, Bennard B. Robert Henri: His Life and Art. New York, 1991: 149.

1998

  • Burchard, Hank. "Corcoran Biennial: A Retreat in Reverse [exh. review]." The Washington Post (7 August 1998): N55.

  • Leeds, Valerie Ann. Robert Henri in Santa Fe: His Work and Influence. Exh. cat. Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, 1998: 18, 20-21, 100-101, repro.

2000

  • Cash, Sarah, with Terrie Sultan. American Treasures of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. New York, 2000: 178, repro.

  • Leeds, Valerie Ann. "Robert Henri and the American Southwest: His Work and Influence." Ph.D. dissertation, City University of New York, 2000: 241, 471, repro.

2007

  • Bennett, Lennie. "The Coming of Age of American Art [exh. review]." St. Petersburg Times (18 February 2007): 9L.

2011

  • Leeds, Valerie Ann. "Robert Henri, Indian Girl in White Blanket." In Corcoran Gallery of Art: American Paintings to 1945. Edited by Sarah Cash. Washington, 2011: 220-221, 279-280, repro.

Inscriptions

lower right: ROBERT HENRI

Wikidata ID

Q46633670

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