Four friends, first state

Bellows, George, 1882-1925 · 1921

Reading from left to right, Leon Kroll, George Bellows, Eugene Speicher and Robert Henri. (Bellows) / Four Friends is an affectionate caricature in which the diminutive Leon Kroll confronts Bellows, Eugene Speicher, and the skeptical Robert Henri, their mentor. Kroll's strong belief in the pure color used by the French Impressionists was a principle often discussed and argued by Kroll with Henri and his disciples, who favored the opposing theory that suggested that mixing black with color attained the best results. The setting is Henri's studio, 10 Gramercy Park, New York. (Mason)