2014 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction / Lot 138263 / 302 • View Catalog •
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According to Marie Watkins, a Joseph Henry Sharp scholar and associate professor of art history at Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina, “Joseph Henry Sharp, like his celebrated contemporaries, John Twachtman and Childe Hassam, was a painter of the winter landscape. Rather than the northeastern countryside and urban settings, Sharp drew inspiration from Plains Indian winter camps as he traveled about Crow Agency, Montana.
“With ‘The Prairie Dog,’ his studio on wheels constructed from a sheepherder’s wagon, he roamed the reservation. Often in the dead of winter in subzero temperatures, Sharp bundled up in three overcoats, two rugs and foot warmer in search of Indian subjects and remote environments. As exemplified in Crow Camp, Sharp captured scenes of modern Indian life in the Plains with a sense of immediacy, achieved through spontaneous brush strokes. He, too, was concerned with the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. Though his painting style varied throughout his career, Sharp shared the interests of his fellow American Impressionist artists as evidenced in this snowscape painted en plein air, using a lightened palette of pure colors.
“Contemporary art reviews acknowledged the power of Sharp’s landscapes, recognizing his personal connection to the land and the people. In 1907 a critic wrote, ‘of all the canvases those of the most enduring worth are without doubt the landscapes. It is not every one who can paint Indians as well as Mr. Sharp, but there are indeed very few who can sympathetically interpret nature.’”
PROVENANCE:
The Artist
Mr. & Mrs. John Telander, Sheridan, Wyoming, 1919
Present owners, by descent