ROBERT HENRI (1865-1929)

In addition to his role as a leader of the Ashcan school and an influential teacher, Robert Henri is perhaps best remembered as an artist for his spirited portraits of children. In the present work, Henri depicts a young boy named Sonny MacNamara, or Sonny Mac, in the artist's classic style, a portrait of a single figure gazing confidently at the viewer. Painted in 1926, Sandy belongs to a striking series focusing on children from the Irish villages on Achill Island.

Valerie Ann Leeds writes that Henri found a few new models that year in Ireland, including "Sonny Mac, whom he painted on at least eight occasions in 1926, wearing varied hats and colored attire...A child with distinctive and awkward features...This youngster was, however, brimming with personality...The artistic motivation was tied to what Henri saw beneath the surface. In his notes on painting Sonny Mac, he outlined his ideas about physical beauty: 'It is interesting to try to find the forms that will express the mysterious beauty of life that lies back of what otherwise might be a very awkward or homely exterior...it often turns out that in such cases the outer crust is transformed in our eyes.'" (From New York to Corrymore: Robert Henri and Ireland, exhibition catalogue, Charlotte, North Carolina, 2011, pp. 78-79)

Another Henri portrait of Sonny MacNamara is in the collection of the Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach, Florida.