Jump to content

Marjorie Organ

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marjorie Organ Henri
Marjorie Organ by Robert Henri
Born
Marjorie Organ

3 December 1886
DiedJuly 1930
NationalityAmerican
EducationHunter College, Dan McCarthy's National School of Caricature, and the New York School of Art
Known forillustrator, cartoonist and caricaturist
MovementModernist

Marjorie Organ Henri (December 3, 1886 – July 1930) was an Irish-born American illustrator, cartoonist and caricaturist.[1]

One of five children of an Irish wallpaper designer, Organ came to the United States with her family when she was 13. She briefly attended Hunter College before dropping out at age 14[2] to study with illustrator Dan McCarthy.[3]

In the fall of 1902, at the age of 16, she gained employment as a cartoonist in William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal, the only female artist on the staff.[4] There she authored several comic strips, the longest-running being Reggie and the Heavenly Twins. Organ also published two strips, The Man Hater Club and Strange What a Difference a Mere Man Makes,[5] in the New York World. In early 1908 she met painter Robert Henri and soon joined a class of his at the New York School of Art. On May 5, 1908, the two were married.[4] Although she continued to produce drawings and paintings after that, she was more frequently the model for Henri and spent much of her life orchestrating their social life.[6]

Portraits of Marjorie Organ Henri by Robert Henri

[edit]

Henri also painted at least two portraits of Marjorie Organ's sister, Violet Organ.[9]

  • Viv (Miss Violet Organ), oil painting, 1919, private collection[10]
  • Violet Organ, watercolor, (1921) private collection[11]

Armory Show of 1913

[edit]

Organ was one of the artists who exhibited at this landmark show. Although she was already married to Henri she showed as Marjorie Organ. The show included several of her drawings listed as Drawings Nos. 1-6 ($50 each).[12]

Robert Henri died of cancer in 1929 and she followed him a year later, also of cancer.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Perlman, Bennard (1991). Robert Henri: His Life and Art. New York: Dover Publications. p. 85. ISBN 0486267229.
  2. ^ Perlman, Bennard (1991). Robert Henri: His Life and Art. New York: Dover Publications. pp. 85–86. ISBN 0486267229.
  3. ^ Petteys, Chris, ‘’Dictionary of Women Artists’’, G K Hill & Co. publishers, 1985
  4. ^ a b Perlman, Bennard (1991). Robert Henri: His Life and Art. New York: Dover Publications. p. 86. ISBN 0486267229.
  5. ^ Opitz, Glenn B., Mantle Fielding's Dictionary of American Painters, Sculptors & Engravers, Apollo Books, Poughkeepsie, NY, 1988
  6. ^ Rubenstein, Charlotte Streifer, ‘’American Women Artists: from Early Indian Times to the Present’’, Avon Publishers 1982 p, 168
  7. ^ "The Masquerade Dress (painting)". The Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art). Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  8. ^ "Marjorie Organ Henri, (painting)". si.edu. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  9. ^ Archives of American Art. "Summary of the Robert Henri diary, 1870-1954 - Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution". si.edu. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  10. ^ "Viv (Miss Violet Organ), (painting)". si.edu. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  11. ^ "Violet Organ, (painting)". si.edu. Retrieved 8 April 2015.
  12. ^ Brown, Milton W., ‘’The Story of the Armory Show’’, The Joseph H. Hirshhorn Foundation, 1963, p. 273
[edit]