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Girl With Big Hat signed "Robert Henri," l.l.- -signed again and inscribed with title and "90F" on the reverse- -oil on canvas- -unframed 23 1/2 x 19 5/8 in. (59.7 x 49.9 cm.) PROVENANCE Gage Gallery, Cleveland Mr. and Mrs. Warren H. Corning, Kirtland, Ohio EXHIBITED Cleveland, Gage Gallery, "Henri Exhibition," 1912 RELATED LITERATURE W. I. Homer, "Robert Henri and His Circle," Ithaca, 1969, pp. 241-244 D. F. Hoopes, "Robert Henri: 1865-1929," New York, 1976, n.p. J. Sloan in H. F. Sloan, "Robert Henri: Painter," Wilmington, Delaware, 1984, p. xi Henri painted "Girl With Big Hat" in the summer of 1910 when he was traveling in Holland. The artist enjoyed painting local citizens of all of the countries and regions of America he visited. In portraying the common folk, Henri focused upon a variety of types remote from or unspoiled by the evils of contemporary society, a quest that preoccupied him for the rest of his life. He was particularly attracted to the simple freshness and beauty of children, who usually overcame their shyness to pose for him. While in Holland, Henri responded to the stimulus of Frans Hals whose work he viewed in the museums of Haarlem and Amsterdam. From this experience, the American painter began to use a more liberated brushwork, applying the paint in quick, choppy strokes. According to William Innes Homer, Henri's Dutch canvases of 1907 and 1910 mark the beginning of his capacity to use the surface pigment as a vehicle for his feelings about the sitter before him. This aspect of his style is found in most of his informal portraits of Irish subjects painted after 1912. (Homer, p. 241) John Sloan felt that Henri's portraits "stood head and shoulders above Sargent and Chase and their ilk because of their fine color and insistence on graphics. A good Henri can stand beside Hals... The difference between Henri's greatest portraits and Chase's people was a feeling of appreciation for the personality, the human style he re-created... Henri's portraits were emotional without sentimentality. There is emotional excitement in his work, a special feeling of respect for the dignity of the person. You sense a nobility of spirit there, whether he was painting a distinguished lady or a excitement in his work, a special feeling of respect for the dignity of the person. You sense a nobility of spirit there, whether he was painting a distinguished lady or a simple child." (Sloan, p. xi) Henri himself stated: "If one has love of children as human beings, and realizes the greatness that is in them, no better subjects for painting can be found." (Henri in Hoopes, n.p.) Certainly, the artist's comfortable rapport with the present sitter is evident in her boldly smiling and carefree face. As in "Skipper Mick," the portrait of the Irish boy painted in 1924 and sold in these rooms on December 4, 1992, "Girl With Big Hat" exhibits the bright palette and broad brushstrokes so characteristic of Henri's best portraiture. This painting is listed under the above title and "Smiling" in the artist's record book F as no. 90. The Property of the AMERICAN FOUNDATION TRUST(Footnote *) See footnote * for this sale.