Chinese Girl with Fan 1914

Robert Henri created ‘Chinese Girl with Fan’ with oil on canvas. The brushwork here is loose and energetic, like he’s trying to capture a fleeting moment. It feels like Henri wasn’t trying to create a perfect likeness, but rather to give us a sense of a real, living person. Look closely at the girl’s blue shirt. Henri uses these confident strokes of color to suggest the folds and shadows of the fabric. It’s not about precise detail, but about capturing the essence of the color. The paint isn’t overly thick. It’s as if he’s trying to catch the light dancing on the surface. Reminds me of Manet, who also had this incredible ability to capture the light and the mood of a subject with just a few brushstrokes. Like Manet, Henri understood that a painting isn’t just about representation, but about the act of seeing, feeling, and responding to the world around us. Ultimately, art is a conversation, an ongoing exploration of ideas and ways of seeing.