Joseph Henry Sharp 1859-1953

Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Acquired from the above, 1996

Good condition, lined; under UV: a quarter sized area of inpainting at left center, several small spots and dashes along bottom edge, particularly in lower left corner (recently restored). A few pindots of retouching in upper register.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Joseph Henry Sharp once declared: "In the past years I have seen so many things and made studies that probably no other living artist ever saw, such as the Tobacco Dance, Graves, Burials, etc., that if I do not paint them no one ever will" (quoted in Treasures of the Old West, 1984, p. 90). By the late nineteenth century, when Sharp began depicting the daily lives of the Northern Plains Indians the population had been significantly diminished due to starvation, war, and disease. The fear that whole cultures would be lost to history motivated Sharp to record the disappearing world of the Northern Plains tribes. By 1905 the artist began construction of a permanent log cabin in Montana's Crow Agency that served as his home and studio in the fall and winter months.

In Crow Reservation, Montana, Sharp employs loose, energetic brushstrokes and a soft, yet colorful palette of orange-tinted browns and cool teals to create an impressionistic image of Indian life on the Plains. Sharp's empathy and respect for Indian culture is evident in the composition. Any signs of the Crow's presence—the woman, tepees, and horses—are all tucked amid the trees and shrubbery of the middle ground and harmoniously integrated into the landscape.