Robert Henri and his wife, Linda, made their first trip to Spain in 1900. They spent six weeks in Madrid, where Henri lingered at the Prado copying paintings by Velázquez. He traveled to Spain several times over the next few years, painting people from all walks of life with the directness that he had learned as a newspaper illustrator. Among his subjects were two blind street singers, who played their guitars in his studio for hours.
Blind Singers
- Provenance
- Estate of the artist
- Violet Organ, New York
- Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York, to 2 June 1959
- Joseph H. Hirshhorn, New York, 2 June 1959 to 17 May 1966
- Gift of the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Foundation, 17 May 1966
- Exhibition History
- JESUP GALLERY, Westport Public Library, Connecticut. "Music in Art," 25 March-13 April 1963 (sponsored by the Westport Community Association).
- HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. "Inaugural Exhibition," 4 October 1974-15 September 1975.
- HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. "Variations on a Musical Theme: Selections from the Museum Collection," 22 July-5 September 1982.
- HIRSHHORN MUSEUM AND SCULPTURE GARDEN, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. "'The Eight' and the Independent Tradition in American Art," 13 January-15 May 1983, no. 4. TOUR: TERRA MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, Evanston, IL, retitled Early Rebels in American Art (The Eight), 1 April-8 May 1983, no. 4.
- CHRYSLER MUSEUM OF ART, Norfolk, Virgina. "Americans in Spain: Painting and Travel, 1820-1920," 12 February-16 May 2021, no. 102, color ill. p. 198. Tour: MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM, 11 June-3 October.
- Published References
- HENRI, ROBERT. Unpublished Record Book, p. 83. Courtesy of Mrs. John C. LeClair, Glen Gardner, NJ.
- JACOBS, JAY. "Collector: Joseph H. Hirshhorn," Art in America 57 (July-August 1969) ill. p. 59.
- FORGEY, BENJAMIN. "A Hirshhorn Art Survey: Striking and Surprising," Washington (D.C.) Evening Star (23 February 1971) sec. B ill. p. 7.
- JACOBS, JAY. "Quality as Well as Quantity: Joseph H. Hirshhorn," in Lipman, Jean ed. The Collector in America (New York: Viking, 1971) ill. p. 89.
- LERNER, ABRAM et al. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1974) p. 701, ill. no. 185.
- UNSIGNED. "Acquisitions of Modern Art by Museums," Supplement to the Burlington Magazine CXVI/860 (November 1974) no. 119.
- Reading Literature: Orange Level (Evanston, IL: McDougal, Littell & Company, 1985) ill. p. 245.
- PERLMAN, BENNARD B. Robert Henri: His Life and Art (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1991) p. 150, no. 9.
- Data Source
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
- Artist
- Robert Henri, American, b. Cincinnati, Ohio, 1865–1929
- Date
- (1912)
- Credit Line
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift of the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Foundation, 1966
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 33 1/4 X 41 1/4 IN. (84.4 X 104.6 CM.)
- Type
- Painting
