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Henry Golden Dearth

The Black Hat (Miss Dorothy Hart), 1916

oil on canvas

28 x 36 in.

Gift of the Friends of American Art

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Henry Dearth was born in Bristol, Rhode Island, the youngest of five children. After his family moved to Waterbury, Connecticut, he spent three months in the studio of a portrait painter before traveling to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Returning to the United States, Dearth exhibited at the National Academy of Design and the Society of American Artists.  He opened a studio in New York, spent his summers in Normandy and had a house and studio on the English Channel coast.  Dearth began painting in the subdued tones of the French Barbizon painters but eventually came under the influence of the impressionists and also was influenced by Japanese art. He was an able draughtsman and a noted colorist.

The Black Hat is an example of Dearth’s late period which was characterized by flat modeling and rich color harmonies.  A letter in the artist’s file from his wife dates the painting 1916, identifies the sitter as her husband’s frequent model Miss Dorothy Hart,  indicates that it was painted in New York and describes the background as a Japanese print of the Tosa School.

Reference

Henry Golden Dearth. Exhibition of Paintings by Henry Golden Dearth, Saint Louis: City Art Museum, 1919. ASIN: B000PSYGKC