Derricks on the North River
Robert HENRI
(American, 1865-1929)
Derricks on the North River
Date1902
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensionsoverall: 26 × 32 in. (66 × 81.3 cm)
frame: 34 × 40 × 3 1/4 in. (86.4 × 101.6 × 8.3 cm)
weight: 19 lb. (8.6 kg)
ClassificationPAINTINGS
Credit LineSBMA, Museum purchase for the Preston Morton Collection, with funds provided by the Chalifoux Fund
Object number1977.45
Subject(s)
- landscape
- river
- architecture
Collection
- 20th century American
- American
Sub-Collection(s)
- American Realism (Ashcan School)
- American
On View
Not on viewCollections
Label TextAfter his training in Europe in the 1890s, Robert Henri returned to the United States in 1900, where he began teaching at the New York School of Art. This painting of oil derricks on the Hudson demonstrates his enduring interest in portraying the gritty reality of industrial life. Using a strong compositional diagonal, Henri emphasizes the machines which dwarf the human laborers in the foreground. At the same time, his loose brushstrokes and earthy palette depict sky, water, land, and figures as if formed from the same muddy substance. Henri would go on to play foundational roles in the American avant- garde groups “The Eight” and the Ashcan School, which pushed back against prescriptive artistic norms to promote new forms of urban realism.
