English: Robert Henri, American, 1865–1929

Mildred Clarke von Kienbusch, 1914 Oil on canvas 61 x 51 cm. (24 x 20 1/16 in.) frame: 81.4 × 71 × 7 cm (32 1/16 × 27 15/16 × 2 3/4 in.) Bequest of Carl Otto von Kienbusch, Class of 1906, for the Carl Otto von Kienbusch Jr. Memorial Collection y1977-26

Early in 1914, Mildred Clarke von Kienbusch and her husband, Carl Otto, attended a New York exhibition of paintings by The Eight, a group consisting of former newspaper illustrators like Robert Henri, its founder, who had come together in frustration over the perceived rarefied atmosphere at the National Academy of Design and its restrictive exhibition policies. Attracted to Henri’s grittily vital aesthetic, the young von Kienbusches looked him up in the telephone book. The eventual result was this portrait — characteristic of Henri’s work at the time in its subdued palette enlivened by splashes of bright color — which Carl, who subsequently became one of the Museum’s major benefactors, donated in memory of his wife.