Street Scene with Snow (57th Street, NYC.)

Robert Henri was a leading figure of the Ashcan School, the group of American realist painters who embraced the unglamorous reality of urban working-class life around 1900 in deliberate opposition to academic prettiness. His street scene in snow on 57th Street in New York captures the city in winter with the direct, spontaneous handling that became Henri's signature. The choice of a snowy street rather than a warm interior or a pleasant garden declares his commitment to the actuality of American urban experience. Henri's example and teaching influenced a generation of younger painters who transformed American art in the early twentieth century.

Henri renders the snowy street with rapid, alla prima brushwork in a palette of cool whites, grey-blues, and warm darks. Figures are suggested with swift, calligraphic strokes that capture movement and silhouette without labored finish. The snow surface is treated with directional brushwork that implies both reflected light and the texture of packed urban snow.