Paris Café, Montparnasse

Robert Henri's broadly painted Paris Café, Montparnasse records a typical scene in the Left Bank neighborhood in Paris, where sidewalk cafés shaped the cultural life as well as the streetscape. A street runs diagonally across the composition before the awnings and potted trees of open-air cafés, possibly a corner at the Place de Rennes (now the Place du 18 juin 1940) in front of the Gare Montparnasse. Sketchy figures are clustered at tables, passing along the street, and seated under trees on the left edge of the composition. In the distance buildings give way to an undefined vista of trees and roofs, furthering the impression of a village scene rather than a corner of a vast metropolis; at the right edge of the painting, the rear end of a carriage just hints at the realities of urban street traffic, but the most prominent figures are those of a white-clad woman leading a child, perhaps a uniformed nursemaid and her charge, who suggest the domestic calm of the neighborhood. The irregular shadows cast by trees on the left over the pale yellow street indicate strong daylight, but the overall tone of the picture is muted, with a darkened sky in the upper left.

During his second visit to Paris, between 1895 and 1897, Henri made numerous quick oil sketches of Parisian street scenes, among them Street Corner in Paris (TF 1999.70), which he may have used as the basis for larger, more finished oil-on-canvas paintings such as this. The artist used these works to explore his growing interest in the urban environment, which he would shortly champion as the leader of a New York-based group of painters that have come to be called the Ashcan school for their gritty realism. The dark color range of Paris Café, Montparnasse, inspired in part by Henri's admiration for seventeenth-century Spanish and Dutch masters, may also reflect his awareness of a current trend toward muted, shadowy effects, or tonalism, that was prevalent in American landscape painting around the turn of the twentieth century.

Henri's studio at 49, boulevard Montparnasse was close to the Place de Rennes at the heart of the Left Bank quarter of Montparnasse. Traditionally popular with students and famous for its brasseries (music halls) and cafes, in the late 1890s the neighborhood was poised to overtake the working-class quarter of Montmartre, on the Right Bank, as the favorite haunt of artists and intellectuals.

Robert Henri Exhibition, The Gallery of Modern Art, Columbus Circle, New York.

Impressions de toujours: les peintres américains en France, 1865–1915 (Lasting Impressions: American Painters in France, 1865–1915), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 1993; April 1–October 30, 1994; April 1–October 31, 1995. [exh. cat.]

American Artists and the Paris Experience, 1880–1910, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, November 22, 1997–March 8, 1998.

Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920 (The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venues: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–July 15, 1999; Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, December 10, 1999–May 7, 2000 (in modified form). [exh. cat.]

Selections from the Permanent Collection: American Artists in France, 1860–1910, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois (organizer). Venue: Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, Illinois, March 10–June 3, 2001.

Paris-New York, aller-retour. Une Modernité américaine en formation, 1875–1940. Oeuvres des collections de la Terra Foundation for the Arts et des Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens (Paris-New York, Roundtrip. American Modernism in the Making, 1875–1940. Works from the Terra Foundation for the Arts and the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, September 15–November 30, 2002. [exh. cat.]

Le Passage à Paris: les artistes américains en France, 1860–1930 (Passing through Paris: American Artists in France, 1860–1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, April 1–October 31, 2005. [exh. brochure]

Le Passage à Paris: les artistes américains en France, 1860–1930 (Passing through Paris: American Artists in France, 1860–1930), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, April 1–October 29, 2006. [exh. brochure]

Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, July 15–October 31, 2007.

Le Temps des loisirs : peintures américaines (At Leisure: American Paintings), Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France (organizer). Venue: Musée d'Art Américain Giverny, France, April 1–October 31, 2008.

Reymond, Nathalie. Un regard américain sur Paris (An American Glance at Paris). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1997. Text p. 44; ill. p. 42 (color).

Cartwright, Derrick R. The City and the Country: American Perspectives, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 24 (checklist).

Cartwright, Derrick R. Ville et campagne: les artistes américains, 1870–1920. (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 1999. Text p. 24 (checklist).

Griffith, Bronwyn and Lee A. Vedder. Paris-New York, aller-retour (New York-Paris Round Trip). (exh. cat., Musée d'Art Américain Giverny). Chicago, Illinois: Terra Foundation for the Arts, 2002. Text pp. 18 (French), 86 (English), 106 (checklist); ill. p.8 (color), fig. 3, p. 19 (color).