The Art Spirit
Author: Robert Henri (with Margery Ryerson)
Robert Henri's book The Art Spirit inevitably makes it in any artist's top ten artbook recommendations.
As passionate students of Art, we know Robert Henri. His paintings make up an extraordinary body of work. He is considered the "father" of the Ashcan School - a loose alliance of artists whose approach to painting had more in common with journalism than stuffy, academic Traditionalism. Henri taught in many art schools. By some estimates, he taught more than a thousand students – including Edward Hopper and George Bellows. He was universally beloved as a teacher by his students. Today we continue to benefit from his teaching preserved in the pages of The Art Spirit.
We have one of Henri's students to thank for preserving Henri's teaching: Margery Ryerson. She compiled a collection of his lecture notes, letters, and commentary together into the inspirational book The Art Spirit. It continues to be a valuable source of instruction and inspiration nearly 100 years after it was first published in 1923. The original text entered the public domain in 2019. What a remarkable gift!
There are several affordable editions available of The Art Spirit. You can also read and/or listen to the text right here on The Artful Painter. The audio comprises about 9 hours of narration and music. Further, I published a podcast episode about the early history of Robert Henri.
Robert Henri in 1897
