2019 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction / Lot 197177 / 328 • View Catalog •
Prev Lot
•
Next Lot 
VERSO
Label, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Lent by Mr. & Mrs. Earl C. Adams
According to Marie Watkins, a Joseph Henry Sharp scholar and associate professor of art history at Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina, “‘Squaw winter’ is defined as ‘a brief early period of wintry weather occurring in the autumn; an early October cold snap, often followed by flurries of snow.’ This month was also a favorite time for the artist to be at Crow Agency, especially after 1904. That year Sharp’s friend, Samuel G. Reynolds, Indian Affairs agent, established Crow Fair, which continues to this day (but is now held in August because of the early snows). Although the purpose of the fair was to integrate the Crow into modern American life with emphasis on their agricultural production, raising of live stock and demonstration of domestic abilities, Reynolds also permitted tribal ceremonies, dancing and singing which included traditional dress. In 1907, Sharp observed that ‘for ten days there must have been near a thousand visiting Indians aside from the Crows in camp, and I succeeded in getting studies of many good motifs.’ Sharp was elated with the opportunities Crow Fair afforded and valued its importance to his art.”
PROVENANCE
Earl C. Adams, Los Angeles, CA
Private Collection
EXHIBITED
The West Remembered, Artists and Images 1837-1973:
The Old Mint, San Francisco, CA, June 16 - Sept 15, 1973;
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, Nov 10, 1973 - Jan 6, 1974
LITERATURE
Exhibition catalog, The West Remembered, Artists and Images 1837-1973 (San Francisco and San Marino, CA: California Historical Society, 1973), p 46 no. 70, illustrated