MADISON, WI.-Early twentieth century paintings from a private collection by American realist artist Robert Henri and his colleagues will be on view on the mezzanine of the Chazen Museum of Art through June 30, 2006. The exhibition includes 15 paintings—predominately portraits and landscapes—by the following American artists: George Bellows, Arthur B. Davies, William Glackens, Robert Henri, Ernest Lawson, George Luks, Maurice Prendergast, Everett Shinn, and John Sloan.

These works are on extended loan to the Chazen Museum of Art from the Caxambas Foundation of Janesville, Wisconsin.

Around 1891 the American artist and teacher Robert Henri began to attract a group of artists who embraced his philosophy of following individual creative instincts rather than adhering to established academic standards. Henri challenged the conventions of the time that called for morally uplifting art based on models from the past, instead, focusing on subjects of everyday life. This group began their careers as Philadelphia newspaper illustrators—among them, George Luks, John Sloan, William Glackens, Everett Shinn, and later George Bellows. In their time, they were known as the “Revolutionary Black Gang,” and later as the “Ashcan School.”

Henri and his circle made art that was more revolutionary in its subject matter than its style. These artists believed what was real and true in life was what was beautiful and that this approach constituted "art." They painted gritty urban scenes and the poor and disenfranchised in America. Typically, this group used a loose and spontaneous style, very different from the polished techniques taught in the American art academies of the period. Using a dark, subdued palette, and a slap-dash, rapid handling of the paint, their work showed individual brushstrokes and thick layering.

The core group gained three more artists under Henri's influence—Arthur B. Davies, Ernest Lawson, and Maurice Prendergast—and were known as the “Eight.” In 1908, as a protest against prevailing restrictive academic exhibition procedures, the "Eight" organized a history-making exhibition that became a symbol of rebellion in American and modern art. Held at the Macbeth Galleries in New York, the show was revolutionary in that it was the first exhibit that was self-organized and self-selected by a group of related artists, without a jury and prizes. This type of nonjuried exhibition became the model for one of the most famous exhibitions in the history of Modern Art: The Armory Show of 1914.

Although these artists formed close associations, they did not necessarily employ the same style or favor the same subject matter. Over the course of their careers, many of them also explored new approaches to their own art as well. Henri and his followers were united in their fight for an original, progressive direction for American art in the twentieth century, above all.

The paintings by Robert Henri and his colleagues on view in this exhibition were collected by George S. Parker II of Janesville, WI. Mr. Parker developed an interest in the work of these artists as an undergraduate art history major at Brown University in the early 1950s. He maintained a passion for art throughout his graduate studies at the University of Michigan and his business. In 1989, he began purchasing artwork by Robert Henri and his circle with the idea of building a collection to represent a complete and nuanced picture of the varied styles and subjects these artists explored throughout their careers. With his clear vision and keen eye, Mr. Parker assembled a collection of over 60 oil paintings, watercolors, sketches, etchings, and lithographs by this revolutionary group of American artists over the course of the next ten years. The paintings currently on view at the museum reflect the breadth and depth of this major collection, which belongs to the Caxambas Foundation.