An accomplished listed American Artist and Illustrator, Robert M. Henry has created well over 3,000 works of art. All of these paintings are in private homes and businesses, included in copyrighted material by various Authors, and on permanent display for general viewing throughout the United States and in the Republic of Cape Verde, Kenya, Canada, Mexico, Spain, Italy, England, Sweden, and in Denmark.

He began very early to draw what he saw, using his bedroom walls as his canvas. His parents were not too pleased with this display of creativity, but they reluctantly allowed him to pursue art as a hobby, rather than as a future profession.

His first formal training in painting techniques occurred rather late in life while he served his first Peace Corps assignment. Father Baggio, a Catholic priest in Thika, Kenya, taught Robert to portray fabric and skin realistically, influenced by the Italian Renaissance.

Wanting more instruction, Robert enlisted and became a Navy Illustrator/Draftsman. In a short time, he had completed the Navy Occupation Standards for DM3 through DMCM. This resulted in the only "Schooling in Art" he ever received formally. Here, he learned not only the "alphabet of his profession", but also to transfer his images to paper, film, wall, surfaces of metal, glass, ceramics, fabrics, and within the pathways of a computer.

During this time, he voluntarily created a one man show of 25 paintings at NAS Oceana, VA, and in the Military District Washington, he completed 53 murals. He also painted an authorized portrait of Commodore Grace Murray Hopper. This painting was, for a time, displayed in the Pentagon. It was one of the many works of art lost on September 11th. He recently recreated the portrait twice, and both hang in various locations within the Women in Military Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery.

This exposé could detail the proliferation of his paintings, however, this web site is sufficient to give anyone interested an overview of his many commissions, and the technique he uses to portray daily life in 21st century America, and to entice a child's imagination. This technique, he admits, is "photo realistic".

His place as an American Artist has been earned by self discipline, constancy of personal direction, and by an ability to display the visions, the ideas, of not only himself, but of others as well. He is no stranger to volunteerism. He certainly is one of the "Thousand Points of Light" referred to by President George H.W. Bush. Countless individuals, charity organizations, and memorial foundations have received his art for "silent auction" fund raising purposes.

If you go back to the home page, and select the "portraits" link, you will be introduced to his part in one specific "charity" in which he participated. The Faces of the Fallen Exhibition, sponsored by the Women in Military Memorial at the foot of Arlington National Cemetery, affected him profoundly. There, he met the mother of a young man who's "light" was extinguished in an act of heroism in Afghanistan. Held each year, Robert requests that you consider donating your time, your money, and if you are a peer of his, your art. The Jason Plite Memorial Foundation has thus far given eighteen young men and women scholarships to further their education, totaling $35,000.

It has been my distinct pleasure to write these few words about an Artist I have known. That you have read this biography and subsequently all that is here concerning the Jason Plite Memorial Silent Auction; that action alone is worth more than I can measure in my own lifetime. That Robert has dedicated himself to the continuation of this scholarship, to help to preserve the living memory of a young man he never had the distinct honor to have met, says much more about the man, than about his art.

And yet, I'm as sure as there is dawn after the night, he will be remembered for that alone - his art. At some point in time, someone else will document his contribution as a member of our country and of our history, I will not be that person. And until that fateful day, when he has painted his last and final painting, when all we have left of him are memories of chance meetings during his plein air painting in front of Walker's Point in Kennebunkport, Maine; or stand before one of his "body of work", some 3,000 of them at present, not counting those works on his easel today; or see his imaginative illustrations in many, many children's books; those of you who will purchase your first painting from his hands, perhaps because of these words, or perhaps because you have been led to him by the suggestion of another and seek confirmation of his abilities; I promise you, you will not be disappointed by the art, nor by the Artist.

- Lawrence T. Matzkin, Jr. 2009.