The Blue Kimono

Robert Henri was part of a vanguard group of New York City artists known as the Ashcan School, which spurned American art academies and museums and rejected the more conservative painting style of artists like John Singer Sargent. Instead, artists like Henri sought to capture the grit and grime of modern American cities, painting the destitute and homeless, the working class and prostitutes. Artists like Henri often appropriated art from different cultures—here a blue kimono from Japan—in order to capture the vibrant mix of cultures and people in modern American cities. Calling Henri “a dauntless young fighter [who] vigorously protested against the institutionalism of the time,” one reviewer praised The Blue Kimono as “passionate, impulsive, scarlet-lipped.” Henri was often celebrated for his art’s clear social agenda, with one reviewer noting approvingly, “Henri wanted art to be akin to journalism. He wanted paint to be as real as mud.”