Why I'm obsessed with these cheap paintings of Paris

Did this French painter ever exist?

Henry Rogers' French impressionist paintings of Paris street scenes seem to only exist in online auctions and yard sales. The mystery of his identity deepens when you take a closer look at his art, and notice that his signature changes from painting to painting – sometimes it’s spelled “Henry” and sometimes the French “Henri.”

The author of this site, Philip Lord, became obsessed with gathering information about Rogers but found nothing in his early online searches. So he started researching himself by analyzing dozens of Rogers’ paintings, many of them seeming to show the same street in Paris from varying perspectives. He wanted to figure out if “Henry Rogers” was a lone street painter in Paris, or in fact a workshop of painters trained to create similar-looking paintings and sign them under a pseudonym.

Lord gave up the search in 2011. In 2022, we picked up the puzzle and tried a few new avenues of inquiry. An actual Paris street painter told us that Rogers’ “impression” of Paris was imaginary. We visited a lab in Cleveland, Ohio, that uses artificial intelligence and detailed scans of paintings to distinguish the fingerprints of individual artists. They suggested that Henry Rogers is in fact multiple artists creating similar paintings.

Further reading:

[LordQ]

The real *Henry Rogers* were the friends we made along the way.

[johannafernandez]

Vox has just artificially inflated the value of a Henri Rogers (French accent please). I’d love one😉.

[deanpeterson_]

Has anyone ever seen Philip Lord and Henry Rogers in the same room at the same time? 🤔

[ekv]

My ex girlfriend used to do this while she was in art college. It's basically work exploitation if you ask me, they were paid dirt cheap like 2-3$ per painting and one person used to make 20-50 a day. Then later they were sold in Paris or other tourist place for few hundreds euros. I don't remember them singing anything tho, so that must have been done in last stage before selling. This was back in 2015.

[oltedders]

Mexico was the major producer of readymade frames sold in the U.S. during the 60s and 70s, before China moved into that niche. Artwork from that period is easily dated by the Made in Mexico stamp on the frame.
The Mexican frame points to Henry Rogers more likely being an American or the paintings having been distributed in the U.S.
It's definitely "starving artist" quality motel art.

[tammyleung]

My aunt used to do this sort of “stock photo” paintings when she was young and needed money. She would lay 10 canvas on the ground, paint the same roof in one go for 10 times than the same window etc. She used to sign different names on them.

[ZoraTheberge]

There’s something very romantic about it being one person, but they definitely seem mass-produced. Even a single artist who sells to tourists directly would want to paint a different street. They’re probably all based on one photo of one street.

[GonzaloGEhnis]

I am from México and this paintings are in almost every middle class house, at least in Mexico City. I will ask my grandpa where did he get them, I think he has more than one at this house.

[carolineholden]

I have a painting my mother bought at some thrift store that we suspect has a similar backstory. It's a painting by "Henri Dupré" with a gorgeous over the top frame. My mom said she figured it was made in China since it was pretty cheap but she liked the frame and the painting so much that it became our fireplace's focal point for most of my life. Googled Henri Dupré and he seems to have a few paintings for sale online but it's unclear if he was a real painter or not. Still, it's a lovely painting and now it's above my fireplace :)

[timothyreeves]

I’d be very interested in a video about an art factory.

[cubieosity]

I have a Henry Rogers painting, I just love it, hangs in my bedroom, its just beautiful

[TackyHistorian]

Both my parents and my in- laws have these exact paintings. I always imagined these to be an I love Lucy situation, in the episode where she visits Paris and ends up with 3 of the same “original”painting.

[nezukochan]

I've seen so many videos since the day I discovered on Youtube, but this is one of the most interesting ones I've come across.

[tuxedobob]

I have some paintings that I bought at a store once upon a time in a mall in New Hampshire. As I recall, several of the works were basically the same thing, with different dimensions. I asked where they got the paintings from; the answer was an art *school*. These could be *student* paintings, and Henry/i Rogers could be either the school name, or a code name (maybe the school is H. R. or something), or simply plucked out of thin air to pretend it's a single artist.

I wouldn't put too much stock in the canvases being made in Mexico. Doesn't mean they were painted there.

[sahanakumar]

This was such a cool video! I'm happy to see Vox getting back up on its feet with the intriguing quality of videos from years past. This video made me interested in things I never would think to be interested in, which is always what Vox has done best.

[superfund]

I used to do professional framing. The shop I worked at carried these frames as ready-mades. They are super cheap and look great with "souvenir" art you bring in to get framed after you return from vacation. I could tell from the trees that there were 3 different artists, so I'm glad the computer confirmed it I guess? The slashy grid-like pallet knife markings are reminiscent of the technique used on those spray paint + plastic baggie street art pieces that I've seen done in SoCal & Mexico.

[Xballawanaka]

Rogers wouldn't have an "s" at the end of their name if they were actually French. This detail and the inconsistent spelling of Henri/Henry leads me to believe that the painters are not French at all

[RV]

Geowizard was trying to identify a painting of his too.

[sincerelyINKdevil]

I love that a complex scientific machine that analyzed multiple paintings came to the same conclusion that a French street painter came to by just looking at the paintings over a video call. It really shows that if you want to know something about art all you have to do is ask and listen to an artist.

[johnkeefer]

My wife and I purchased a very small canvas painting like this on the streets of Paris for like €5. I know that it’s not “good art” and is likely mass produced or not painted, but it’s a very sentimental souvenir and doesn’t look terrible