The Eight
As the intellectual leader of The Eight and the Ashcan School, Robert Henri’s influence as teacher, mentor, or colleague can be traced through the oeuvres of several artists, including George Bellows, Everett Shinn, Walt Kuhn, William Glackens, and Arthur Davies. Brought together by a shared frustration with the jury process for the National Academy of Design’s spring 1907 exhibition and committed to portraying city life through the lens of realism, The Eight only showed together once—in February 1908 at Macbeth Galleries—but as art historian Elizabeth Kennedy has pointed out, are “forever linked by their one and only collective enterprise. Notwithstanding the lionization of Henri as the natural leader of the group, the members were in truth more friends than followers.” In fact, several members remained closely associated throughout their careers and some, such as Walt Kuhn, Arthur Davies, and Robert Henri, went on to organize the 1913 New York Armory Show together.